THE  WAR  MAKER 

BEING  THE 
TRUE  STORY  OF  CAPTAIN  GEORGE  B.  BOYNTON 


Photo  by  Pirie  MacDonald 


THE 
WAR  MAKER 

BEING  THE  TRUE  STORY  OF 
CAPTAIN  GEORGE  B.  BOYNTON 

By 

HORACE  SMITH 


WITH  PORTRAIT 


87 
>~ 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.  McCLURG  C&  CO. 
1911 


Copyright 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 
1911 


Published   March,  1911 


I.  3f.  Soil  ^rttttinn  (Company 
(Shitano 


NOTE 

THE  hero  of  this  book  was  a  real  man,  though  he 
has  carried  to  his  grave  the  secret  of  his  true 
name.  It  was  not  Boynton,  although  it  is  known  that 
he  was  born  in  Fifth  Avenue,  near  Fourteenth  Street, 
New  York,  May  i,  1842,  and  that  his  father  was  a 
distinguished  surgeon,  with  an  estate  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  He  rarely  talked  of  his  remarkable  life,  and 
recounted  in  detail  to  the  author  of  this  volume  the 
facts  of  his  career  of  adventure,  only  in  the  closing 
months  of  his  life. 

Captain  Boynton  was  of  the  type  of  filibuster  that  is 
read  of  so  often,  but  rarely  met  with  in  life.  He  was 
a  tall,  bronzed,  athletic,  broad-shouldered  man,  one  of 
the  most  picturesque  and  daring  of  the  many  soldiers 
of  fortune  who  have  sought  adventures  over  the 
world.  From  Hongkong  to  Valparaiso  fighters  of  all 
races  knew  the  name  of  Boynton.  From  Cape  Horn 
to  New  York  he  did  not  permit  himself  to  be  for- 
gotten. Whether  exploring  the  sources  of  the  Orin- 
oco, or  hunting  elusive  supporters  for  a  deserted 
American  President,  or  battling  in  the  Haytian  army, 

[5] 


NOTE 

or  spying  out  court  secrets  in  Venezuela,  or  running 
a  distillery  in  Brooklyn  with  Jim  Fisk  as  partner,  he 
was  invariably  master  of  himself  and  continually  a 
personality  to  be  reckoned  with.  Captain  Boynton 
was  the  original  of  the  "  Soldier  of  Fortune  "  in  Rich- 
ard Harding  Davis's  story  of  that  name,  and  gave  to 
Guy  Boothby  the  facts  of  his  novel  "  The  Beautiful 
White  Devil, "  with  which  dashing  heroine  Captain 
Boynton  was  on  terms  of  intimacy.  In  the  account  of 
his  life  given  in  this  volume  fictitious  names  have  in 
two  or  three  instances  been  used  for  persons  still  liv- 
ing who  figured  in  business  deals  with  him.  Other- 
wise the  story  is  told  almost  identically  as  Captain 
Boynton  narrated  it  to  the  author. 

After  escaping  death  in  scores  of  forms,  including 
a  Chinese  pirate's  cutlass,  an  assassin's  dagger,  the 
fire  of  a  file  of  soldiers  at  sunrise,  and  war's  guns,  this 
utterly  fearless,  cheerfully  arrogant  retired  blockade 
runner,  revolutionist,  and  hunter  of  pirates  died  peace- 
fully in  his  bed,  at  a  ripe  age,  on  January  19,  1911,  in 
New  York  City,  where  he  had  led  a  quiet  life  since 
1905,  when  he  voluntarily  left  Venezuela,  after  with- 
standing repeated  efforts  by  President  Castro  to  drive 
him  from  the  country. 

New  York,  H.  S. 

/an.  25,  79/7. 

[6] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

A  Soldier  of  Fortune's  Creed          .        .  9 

I    Under  Fire  the  First  Time     ...  13 

II    Filibustering  for  the  Cubans  .        ...  34 

III  In  League  with  the  Spanish  Pretender  .  54 

IV  Lawless  Latin  America  ....  78 
V    The  Marooning  of  a  Traitor    .        .        .  102 

VI     A  Swift  Vengeance          ....  121 

VII    Preying  on  Pirates           ....  140 

VIII    "  The  Beautiful  White  Devil "        .        .  165 

IX    A  Death  Duel  with  a  Pirate  King  .        .  193 

X    The  Burial  of  the  "  Leckwith "       .        .  217 

XI    Stealing  a  British  Ship     ....  243 

XII    A  Land  of  Mystery  and  Murder     .        .  264 

XIII  Adventures  on  the  Nile    ....  289 

XIV  Rapid-Fire  Revolts          ....  327 
XV    Revolution  as  a  Fine  Art       .        .        .  357 

XVI    At  War  with  Castro        ....  387 


A  SOLDIER  OF  FORTUNE'S  CREED 

HROUGHOUT  my  life  I  have  sought  adventure 
over  the  face  of  the  world  and  its  waters  as  other 
men  have  hunted  and  fought  for  gold  or  struggled 
for  fame.  The  love  of  it,  whether  through  the  out- 
cropping of  a  strain  of  buccaneer  blood  that  had  been 
held  in  subjection  by  generations  of  placid  propriety  or 
as  a  result  of  some  freak  of  prenatal  suggestion,  was 
born  in  me,  deep-planted  and  long-rooted.  Excite- 
ment is  as  essential  to  my  existence  as  air  and  food. 
Through  it  my  life  has  been  prolonged  in  activity  and 
my  soul  perpetuated  in  youth;  when  I  can  no  longer 
enjoy  its  electrification,  Death,  as  it  is  so  spoken  of, 
will,  I  hope,  come  quickly. 

To  get  away  from  the  flat,  tiresome,  beaten  path 
and  find  conditions  or  create  situations  to  gratify 
the  clamorous  demand  within  me  has  ever  been  my 
compelling  passion.  I  have  served,  all  told,  under 
eighteen  flags  and  to  each  I  gave  the  best  that  was  in 
me,  even  though  some  of  them  were  disappointing  in 
their  failure  to  produce  a  pleasing  amount  of  excite- 
ment. In  following  my  natural  bent,  which  I  was 
powerless,  as  well  as  disinclined,  to  interfere  with  or 
alter,  to  the  full  length  of  my  capabilities,  it  perhaps 

[9] 


A  SOLDIER  OF  FORTUNE'S  CREED 

will  be  considered  by  some  people  that  I  have  gone 
outside  of  written  laws.  To  such  a  contention  my 
answer  is  that  I  have  always  been  true  to  my  own 
conscience,  which  is  the  known  and  yet  the  unknown 
quantity  we  all  must  reckon  with,  and  to  my  country. 
In  the  transportation  of  arms  with  which  to  further 
fights  for  freedom  or  fortune  I  have  flown  many  flags 
I  had  no  strictly  legal  right  to  fly,  over  ships  that 
were  not  what  they  pretended  to  be  nor  what  their 
papers  indicated  them  to  be,  but  never  have  I  taken 
refuge  behind  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  nor  have  I  ever 
called  on  an  American  minister  or  consular  officer  to 
get  me  out  of  the  successive  scrapes  with  govern- 
ments, but  most  often  with  misgovernments,  into 
which  my  warring  wanderings  have  carried  me.  Red- 
blooded  love  of  adventure,  free  from  any  wanton  spirit 
and  with  the  prospect  of  financial  reward  always  sub- 
ordinated, has  been  the  driving  force  in  all  of  my 
encounters  with  good  men  and  bad,  with  the  latter 
class  much  in  the  majority.  Therefore  I  have  only 
scorn  for  sympathy  and  contempt  for  criticism,  nor 
am  I  troubled  with  uncanny  visions  by  night  nor 
haunting  recollections  by  day. 

There  is  just  one  point  in  my  philosophy  which  I 
wish  to  make  clear  before  the  Blue  Peter  is  hoisted, 
and  that  is  that  most  of  the  so-called  impossibilities 

[10] 


A  SOLDIER  OF  FORTUNE'S  CREED 

we  encounter  are  simply  disguised  opportunities. 
Because  they  are  regarded  as  impossible  they  are  not 
guarded  against  and  are  therefore  comparatively  easy 
of  accomplishment  when  they  really  are  possible,  as 
most  of  them  are.  Acceptance  of  this  theory,  with 
which  every  student  of  the  history  of  warfare  will 
agree,  will  help  to  explain  my  ability  to  do  some  of 
the  things  which  will  be  told  of,  that  the  thoughtless 
would  promptly  put  down  as  impossible. 

The  name  by  which  I  am  known  is  one  of  the  con- 
tradictions of  my  life.  Save  only  for  my  father,  who 
sympathized  with  my  adventurous  disposition  at  the 
same  time  that  he  tried  to  curb  it,  I  was  at  war  with 
my  family  almost  from  the  time  I  could  talk.  I  am  a 
Republican  in  politics  from  the  fact  that  they  were 
active  supporters  of  James  Buchanan,  and  I  became 
a  Southern  sympathizer  simply  because  they  were 
bitterly  opposed  to  slavery.  When  I  left  home  to 
become  an  adventurer  around  the  globe  I  buried  my 
real  name  and  I  do  not  propose  to  uncover  it,  here 
or  hereafter.  I  am  proud,  though,  of  the  fact  that 
my  family  is  descended  from  a  King  of  Burgundy; 
for  since  reaching  years  of  discretion,  though  I  have 
been  as  loyal  to  the  United  States  as  any  man  since 
1865,  I  never  have  believed  in  a  republican  form  of 
government.  In  the  course  of  my  activities  I  have 

[11] 


A  SOLDIER  OF  FORTUNE'S  CREED 

used  many  names  in  many  lands,  but  that  of  Boyn- 
ton,  which  had  been  in  the  family  for  years,  stuck  to 
me  until  I  finally  adopted  it,  prefixing  a  "  George  "  and 
a  "  B.,"  which  really  stands  for  "  Boynton.  "  I  made  it 
my  business  to  forget,  as  soon  as  they  had  served 
my  purpose,  the  different  names  I  took  in  response  to 
the  demand  of  expediency,  but  I  remember  that  Kin- 
near  and  Henderson  were  two  under  which  I  created 
some  comment  on  opposite  sides  of  the  world. 


[12] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

CHAPTER   I 
UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

T  WAS  born  on  May  i,  1842,  on  Fifth  Avenue, 
•••  New  York,  not  a  long  way  north  of  Washington 
Square.  My  father  was  a  distinguished  surgeon  and 
owned  a  large  estate  on  Lake  Champlain,  where 
most  of  my  youthful  summers  were  spent.  I  had 
three  brothers  and  two  sisters ;  but  not  for  many  years 
have  I  known  where  they  are,  or  whether  alive  or 
dead.  After  having  had  a  private  tutor  at  home  I 
was  educated  by  jumps  at  the  Hinesburgh,  Vermont, 
Academy;  at  the  old  Troy  Conference  Academy  at 
Poultney,  Vermont,  and  at  the  Burlington,  Vermont, 
Academy,  where,  young  as  I  was,  I  became  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  study  of  medicine,  for  which  I  had  in- 
herited a  pronounced  liking ;  that  was  the  one  point  on 
which  I  seemed  to  fit  in  with  the  family.  I  did  not  stay 
a  great  while  at  any  institution  because  of  my  suc- 
cess in  leading  the  other  students  into  all  sorts  of 
dare-devil  pranks,  to  the  detriment  of  discipline  and 

[13] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

the  despair  of  the  dominies.  As  an  evidence  of  the 
inclining  twig  I  remember,  with  still  some  feeling  of 
pride,  that  during  one  of  my  last  summers  on  Lake 
Champlain  I  organized  fifteen  boys  of  the  neighbor- 
hood into  an  expedition  against  the  Indians  of  the 
far  West.  We  were  equipped  with  blankets  stolen 
from  our  beds,  three  flasks  of  powder,  and  nearly  one 
hundred  pounds  of  lead,  which  was  to  be  moulded 
into  bullets  for  the  extermination  of  the  redskins  of 
the  world.  As  Commander-in- Chief  I  carried  the 
only  pistol  in  the  party  but  we  expected  to  seize 
additional  arms  on  the  way  to  the  battlefields.  I  had 
scouts  ahead  of  us  and  on  both  flanks  and  by  avoiding 
the  roads  and  the  bank  of  the  lake  we  managed  to 
evade  capture  until  the  third  day,  although  the  whole 
countryside  was  searching  for  us,  in  rather  hysterical 
fashion. 

After  a  somewhat  scattered  series  of  escapades, 
which  increased  the  ire  of  the  family  and  intensified 
my  dislike  of  their  prosaic  protestations,  my  father 
solemnly  declared  his  intention  of  sending  me  to  the 
United  States  Naval  Academy.  It  was  his  idea,  as  he 
expressed  it,  that  the  discipline  which  prevailed  there 
would  be  sufficient  to  restrain  me  and  at  the  same 
time  my  active  imagination  would  find  a  vent  in  my 
inborn  love  of  the  sea.  I  was  delighted  with  this 

[H] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

promised  realization  of  my  boyhood  dream,  for  it 
seemed  to  me  that  the  career  of  a  naval  officer  pre- 
sented greater  possibilities  of  adventure  than  any 
other.  Former  Congressman  George  P.  Marsh,  of 
Burlington,  Vermont,  an  old  friend  of  the  family,  who 
afterward  was  sent  to  Italy  as  American  Minister 
and  died  there,  arranged  to  secure  my  appointment 
to  Annapolis,  and  I  entered  a  preparatory  school  to 
brush  up  on  the  studies  required  by  the  entrance 
examination.  The  machinery  to  procure  my  appoint- 
ment had  been  set  in  motion  and  I  was  ready  to  take 
the  examination  when  the  opening  gun  of  the  Civil 
War  was  fired  at  Fort  Sumter,  on  April  12,  1861. 

I  was  immediately  seized  with  a  wild  desire  to  be 
in  the  fight,  but  my  father  would  not  consent  to  it,  on 
account  of  my  age.  He  would  not  hear  to  my  going 
into  the  army  as  a  private  but  promised  that  if  I 
would  wait  a  year,  and  was  still  of  the  same  mind, 
he  would  try  to  get  me  a  commission.  As  I  have  said, 
my  sympathies  were  with  the  South  but  it  was  more 
convenient  for  me  to  take  the  other  side,  and  at  that 
moment  I  was  not  particular  about  principles.  The 
family  were  duly  horrified  one  evening  when  I  went 
home,  after  some  things  I  needed,  and  told  them  I 
had  enlisted.  The  next  day  my  father  bought  my  dis- 
charge and  hustled  me  out  to  the  little  town  of  Wood- 

[15] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

stock,  Illinois,  where  I  was  placed  in  charge  of  an  uncle 
who  was  abjured  to  keep  me  from  going  to  war,  with- 
out regard  to  anything  else  that  might  happen.  He 
prevented  me  from  joining  an  infantry  regiment 
which  was  then  forming  but  I  got  away  with  a  cav- 
alry regiment  which  was  raised  in  that  section  some 
months  later,  and  was  made  one  of  its  officers.  We 
went  to  Cairo,  Illinois,  and  from  there  by  transport  to 
Pittsburg  Landing,  where  we  arrived  just  in  time  to 
take  part  in  the  battle  which  was  fought  on  April  6 
and  7,  1862.  My  regiment  was  pitted  against  the 
famous  Black  Horse  Cavalry  of  Mississippi  and  we 
came  together  at  the  gallop.  I  was  riding  a  demon 
of  a  black  horse  and,  with  the  bit  in  his  teeth,  he 
charged  into  the  line  two  or  three  lengths  ahead  of 
the  rest.  A  Confederate  officer  came  at  me  with  his 
sabre  raised.  I  ducked  my  head  behind  my  horse's 
neck  and  shot  him  between  the  eyes,  but  just  as  my 
pistol  cracked  his  sword  cut  through  my  horse's  head 
to  the  brain  and  the  point  of  it  laid  open  my  right 
cheek,  from  the  ear  almost  to  the  chin.  The  horse 
fell  on  my  leg  and  held  me  there,  unconscious.  In 
the  evening  I  was  picked  up  and  sent  to  the  general 
hospital,  where  I  stayed  for  three  weeks. 

When  I  was  discharged  from  the  hospital  I  was 
too  weak  for  active  service  so  I  was  sent  into  the 

[16] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

Tennessee  mountains  in  charge  of  a  detachment  to 
intercept  contraband  which  was  being  sent  into  the 
South  from  Cincinnati.  We  had  been  there  about 
ten  days  when,  early  in  the  morning,  one  of  the 
patrols  brought  in  a  fine-looking  young  man,  who 
had  been  arrested  as  a  spy.  There  was  a  refinement 
about  the  prisoner  that  aroused  my  suspicions,  and 
during  the  day  I  satisfied  myself  that  "he"  was  a 
woman.  While  she  would  not  acknowledge  her  iden- 
tity, I  had  reason  to  believe,  and  always  have  been 
sure  in  my  own  mind,  that  she  was  none  other  than 
Belle  Boyd,  the  famous  Confederate  spy.  I  was  born 
with  a  fondness  for  women,  which  then  was  strong 
within  me,  and  besides,  my  heart  was  with  her  cause. 
Therefore  it  is  without  apology  that  I  say  I  arranged 
things  so  that  she  escaped  the  next  night  through  a 
window  in  the  shed  in  which  she  was  confined. 

Soon  after  my  return  to  headquarters  I  contracted 
a  bad  case  of  malaria  and  was  sent  home,  which 
meant  back  to  Woodstock,  where  I  had  eloped  with  a 
banker's  daughter  just  before  going  to  the  front.  I 
was  disgusted  with  the  war  and  I  expressed  myself 
so  freely,  and  was  so  outspoken  in  my  sympathy  for 
the  South,  that  I  made  myself  extremely  unpopular 
in  a  very  short  time.  It  probably  is  true,  too,  as  was 
charged  against  me,  that  I  swaggered  around  a  lot 

[17] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

and  presumed  on  the  reputation  I  had  made.  At  any 
rate  the  people  set  their  hearts  on  hanging  me  for 
being  a  "  damned  copperhead,"  and  they  might  have 
done  it  if  old  man  Wellburn,  the  proprietor  of  the 
hotel  at  which  my  wife  and  I  were  staying,  had  not 
helped  me  to  stand  off  a  mob  that  came  after  me. 
I  met  them  at  the  door  with  a  revolver  in  each 
hand  and  Wellburn  was  right  behind  me  with  quite 
an  arsenal.  They  suggested  that  I  come  out  and 
renounce  my  principles  and  make  certain  promises, 
or  be  hanged  at  the  liberty  pole.  I  told  them  I  would 
renounce  nothing  and  promise  less. 

"  If  I  am  a  copperhead,"  I  told  them,  "  I  am  a  fight- 
ing copperhead,  while  you  are  neither  kind.  If  you 
want  a  fight  why  don't  you  go  to  the  front  and  get  it, 
instead  of  staying  home  and  making  trouble  for  a 
better  man,  who  has  fought  and  bled  for  the  cause  you 
are  shouting  about?  If  you  prefer  a  fight  here,  come 
on  and  get  it.  I've  got  twelve  shots  here  and  there 
will  be  just  thirteen  of  us  in  hell  or  heaven  if  you  try 
to  make  good  your  threat." 

Old  Wellburn  was  known  as  a  fighter  and  the 
sight  of  his  weapons  added  weight  to  my  words, 
so  the  crowd  concluded  to  let  me  have  my  way  about 
it,  and  dispersed.  That  experience  intensified  my  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  whole  business  and  I  sent  in 

[18] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

my  resignation.  It  was  accepted,  and  when  I  had 
thought  it  all  over  I  considered  that  I  was  lucky  to 
have  escaped  a  court-martial.  It  was  fortunate  for 
me  that  Governor  "  Dick  "  Yates  and  my  father  were 
warm  friends.  The  Governor  was  thoroughly  dis- 
gusted with  the  way  I  had  conducted  myself,  but  he 
stood  by  me. 

I  then  moved  to  Chicago,  with  my  wife.  She  had 
a  small  fortune  and  I  had  come  into  considerable 
money  on  my  twentieth  birthday,  so  we  were  in  easy 
circumstances.  I  bought  a  vinegar  works  on  Kinzie 
Street ;  but  the  dull  routine  of  business  was  repulsive 
to  me  and  I  sold  it  in  less  than  a  year,  after  having 
operated  it  at  a  handsome  profit,  and  went  on  to  New 
York.  We  stopped  at  the  old  St.  Nicholas,  at  Broad- 
way and  Spring  Street,  which  was  the  fashionable 
hotel  in  those  days. 

I  was  looking  for  anything  that  promised  excite- 
ment. I  had  heard  that  Carlos  Manuel  de  Cespedes 
was  fomenting  a  revolt  in  Cuba,  —  afterward  known 
as  the  "Ten  Years'  War,"  —  and  had  conceived  the  idea 
of  taking  a  hand  in  it.  To  my  disappointment,  I  found 
that  no  Junta  had  been  established  in  this  country,  nor, 
so  far  as  I  could  discover,  were  there  any  responsible 
men  in  New  York  who  were  connected  with  the 
revolution.  While  I  was  wondering  how  I  could  get 

[19] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

into  communication  with  Cespedes  my  interest  was 
aroused  by  a  newspaper  story  of  the  new  blockade 
runner  "Letter  B,"  which  had  made  one  round  trip 
from  Bermuda  to  Beaufort,  North  Carolina,  and  was 
being  looked  for  again  by  the  Federal  fleet.  The  "  Let- 
ter B  "  —  its  name  a  play  on  words  —  was  a  long,  low, 
powerful,  schooner-rigged  steamship,  built  by  Laird  on 
the  Mersey.  Though  classed  as  a  fifteen-knot  ship 
she  could  do  sixteen  or  seventeen,  fast  going  at 
that  time.  The  story  which  attracted  my  attention 
told  all  about  her  and  said  there  was  so  much  money 
in  blockade  running  that  the  owners  could  well  afford 
to  lose  her  after  she  had  made  three  successful  trips. 
In  five  minutes  I  decided  to  become  a  blockade 
runner  and  to  buy  the  new  and  already  famous  ship, 
if  she  was  to  be  had  at  any  price  within  reason.  I 
bought  a  letter  of  credit  and  took  the  next  ship  for 
Bermuda.  On  my  arrival  there  I  found  that  the  "  Letter 
B"  had  been  expected  in  for  several  days  from  her 
second  trip  and  that  there  was  considerable  anxiety 
about  her.  I  also  learned  that  her  owner  was  build- 
ing a  second  ship  on  the  same  lines  and  for  the  same 
trade.  A  fresh  cargo  of  munitions  of  war  was  await- 
ing the  "  Letter  B,"  and  a  ship  was  ready  to  take  to 
England  the  cotton  she  would  bring.  I  got  acquainted 
with  the  agent  for  the  blockade  runner  and,  after 

[20] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

making  sure  that  he  had  an  ample  power  of  attorney 
from  her  owner,  offered  to  buy  her  and  take  the 
chance  that  she  might  never  come  in.  He  was  not 
disposed  to  sell,  at  first,  and  wanted  me  to  wait  until 
the  arrival  of  her  owner,  Joseph  Berry,  who  was 
daily  expected  from  England. 

After  waiting  and  talking  with  the  agent  for  sev- 
eral days  I  said  to  him  one  morning:  "It  looks  as 
though  your  ship  has  been  captured  or  sunk.  I'll 
take  a  gambler's  chance  that  she  has  n't  and  will  give 
you  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  her  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  cargo  that  is  waiting  for  her ;  you 
to  take  the  cargo  she  brings  in.  I'll  give  you  three 
hours  to  think  it  over." 

I  figured  that  the  waiting  cargo  of  arms  was  worth 
a  couple  of  thousand  dollars  more  than  my  offer  but 
it  looked  as  though  I  was  taking  a  long  chance  with 
my  offer  for  the  ship.  However,  I  had  a  "  hunch,"  or 
whatever  you  want  to  call  it,  that  she  was  all  right, 
and  I  never  have  had  a  well  defined  "hunch"  steer 
me  in  anything  but  a  safe  course,  wherefore  I  inva- 
riably heed  them.  At  the  expiration  of  the  time  limit 
there  was  not  a  sign  of  smoke  in  any  direction  and 
the  agent  accepted  my  proposition.  In  half  an  hour 
I  had  a  bill  of  sale  for  the  ship  and  the  warehouse 
receipts  for  the  cargo  of  war  supplies.  At  sunset 

[21] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

that  day  a  ship  came  in  from  England  with  the  for- 
mer owner.  He  criticised  his  agent  sharply  at  first, 
but  found  some  consolation  in  the  fact  that  the  ves- 
sel he  was  building  would  soon  go  into  commission. 
When  two  more  days  passed  with  no  sign  of  the 
anxiously  looked  for  ship  Mr.  Berry  concluded  that 
he  had  all  the  best  of  the  bargain  and  complimented 
his  agent  on  his  shrewdness. 

On  the  third  day  the  "  Letter  B  "  came  tearing  in, 
pursued  at  long  range  by  the  U.  S.  S.  "Powhatan," 
which  proceeded  to  stand  guard  over  the  harbor, 
keeping  well  offshore  on  account  of  the  reefs  and 
shoals  that  were  under  her  lee.  The  "  Letter  B  "  dis- 
charged a  full  cargo  of  cotton  and  was  turned  over 
to  me.  While  her  cargo  of  arms  was  going  in  I  went 
over  her  carefully  and  found  her  in  excellent  condi- 
tion and  ready  to  go  right  back.  She  was  unloaded 
in  twelve  hours  and  all  of  her  cargo  was  safely 
stowed  in  another  forty-eight  hours.  I  took  com- 
mand of  her,  with  John  B.  Williams,  her  old  captain, 
as  sailing  master,  and  determined  to  put  to  sea  at 
once.  I  knew  the  "  Powhatan  "  would  not  be  looking 
for  us  so  soon  and  planned  to  catch  her  off  her  guard. 

There  was  then  no  man-of-war  entrance  to  the  har- 
bor and  it  was  necessary  to  enter  and  leave  by  day- 
light. With  the  sun  just  high  enough  to  let  us  get 

[22] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

clear  of  the  reefs  before  dark,  and  with  the  "  Powha- 
tan"  well  offshore  and  at  the  farthest  end  of  the 
course  she  was  lazily  patrolling,  we  put  to  sea.  The 
"Powhatan"  saw  us  sooner  than  I  had  expected  she 
would  and  started  to  head  us  off,  but  she  was  not 
quick  enough.  The  moment  she  swung  around  I 
increased  our  speed  to  a  point  which  the  pilot  loudly 
swore  would  pile  us  up  on  the  rocks,  but  it  did  n't, 
and  when  we  cleared  the  passage  we  were  all  of  four 
miles  in  the  lead.  As  I  had  figured,  the  "  Powhatan  " 
did  not  suppose  we  would  come  out  for  at  least  a 
week  and  was  cruising  slowly  about  with  fires  banked, 
so  it  took  her  some  time  to  get  up  a  full  head  of  steam. 
She  fired  three  or  four  shots  at  us  but  they  fell  far 
short.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark,  with  all  of  our  lights 
doused,  we  turned  and  headed  a  little  south  of  west 
so  as  to  come  up  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  which 
was  my  objective  point,  from  the  south.  At  sunrise 
we  had  the  ocean  to  ourselves. 

I  started  in  at  once  to  master  practical  navigation, 
the  theory  of  which  I  knew,  and  to  familiarize  myself 
with  the  handling  of  a  ship.  I  stood  at  the  wheel  for 
hours  at  a  time  and  almost  wore  out  the  instruments 
taking  reckonings  by  the  sun  and  the  stars.  Naviga- 
tion came  to  me  naturally,  for  I  loved  it,  and  in  three 

[23] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

days  I  would  have  been  willing  to  undertake  a  cruise 
around  the  world  with  a  Chinese  crew. 

We  arrived  off  Charleston  late  in  the  afternoon 
and  steamed  up  close  inshore  until  we  could  make  out 
the  smoke  of  the  blockading  fleet,  standing  well  out, 
in  a  semicircle.  Then  we  dropped  back  a  bit  and 
anchored.  All  of  the  conditions  shaped  themselves 
to  favor  us.  It  was  a  murky  night  with  a  hard  blow, 
which  came  up  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  when  we 
got  under  way  at  midnight  a  good  bit  of  a  sea  was 
running.  With  the  engines  held  down  to  about 
half  speed,  but  ready  to  do  their  best  in  a  twinkling, 
we  headed  for  the  harbor,  standing  as  close  inshore 
as  we  dared  go.  We  passed  so  close  to  the  blockad- 
ing ship  stationed  at  the  lower  end  of  the  crescent 
that  she  could  not  have  depressed  her  guns  enough 
to  hit  us  even  if  we  had  been  discovered  in  time,  but 
she  did  not  see  us  until  we  had  passed  her.  Then 
she  let  go  at  us  with  her  bow  guns  and  while  they 
did  no  damage,  we  were  at  such  close  quarters  that 
their  flash  gave  the  other  ships  a  glimpse  of  us  as 
we  darted  away  at  full  speed.  They  immediately 
opened  on  us  but,  after  the  first  minute  or  two,  it 
was  a  case  of  haphazard  shooting  with  all  of  them. 
They  knew  how  they  bore  from  the  channel  and, 
making  a  guess  at  the  proper  allowance  for  our 

[24] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

speed,  they  blazed  away,  hoping  for  the  best  but  fear- 
ing the  worst.  The  first  shells  exploded  close  around 
us  and  some  of  the  fragments  came  aboard  but  no 
one  was  injured.  When  I  saw  where  they  were  fir- 
ing I  threw  my  ship  farther  over  toward  Sullivan's 
Island,  where  she  could  go  on  account  of  her  light 
draft,  and  sailed  quietly  along  into  the  harbor  at 
reduced  speed.  At  daylight  we  went  up  to  the  dock 
and  were  warmly  welcomed. 

Before  the  second  night  was  half  over  we  had 
everything  out  of  her  and  a  full  cargo  of  cotton  aboard 
and  we  steamed  out  at  once.  I  knew  the  blockaders 
would  not  expect  us  for  at  least  four  days  and  we 
surprised  them  just  as  we  had  surprised  the  "  Powha- 
tan  "  at  Bermuda.  It  was  a  thick  night  and  we  sailed 
right  through  the  fleet,  at  half  speed  so  as  better  to 
avoid  detection,  but  prepared  to  break  and  run  for  it 
at  the  crack  of  a  gun,  without  a  shot  being  fired  or 
an  extra  light  shown.  As  soon  as  we  were  clear  of 
the  line  we  put  on  full  speed  and  three  days  later  we 
were  safe  at  Turk's  Island,  the  most  southerly  and 
easterly  of  the  Bahama  Islands,  off  the  coast  of 
Florida,  which  I  had  selected  as  a  base  of  operations. 
Though  these  islands  ought  long  ago  to  have  come 
under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  as  they  eventually  must, 
they  are  still  owned  by  England,  and  in  those  days 

[25] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

they  were  a  haven  and  a  clearing  house  for  the  out- 
siders who  were  actively  aiding  the  Confederacy  — 
for  a  very  substantial  consideration.  Most  of  the 
blockade  runners,  including  the  "  Banshee,"  "  Siren," 
"  Robert  E.  Lee,"  "  Lady  Stirling "  and  other  famous 
ships,  were  operating  out  of  Nassau,  which  had  the 
advantage  of  closer  proximity  to  the  chief  Southern 
ports,  being  within  six  hundred  miles  of  Charleston 
and  Wilmington.  Turk's  Island  was  nine  hundred 
miles  away,  but  I  never  have  believed  in  following 
the  crowd.  It  is  my  rule  to  do  things  alone  and  in 
my  own  way,  as  must  be  the  practice  of  every 
man  who  expects  to  succeed  in  any  dangerous  busi- 
ness. It  is  no  part  of  my  philosophy  to  become  a 
party  to  a  situation  in  which  I  may  suffer  from  the 
mistakes  of  others  or  in  which  others  are  likely  to 
get  into  trouble  through  any  fault  of  mine.  The 
popularity  of  Nassau  caused  it  to  be  closely  watched 
by  the  Federal  cruisers  that  patrolled  the  Gulf 
Stream,  while  the  less  important  islands  to  the  south 
and  east  were  practically  unguarded. 

Though  precarious  for  the  men  who  made  them  so, 
those  were  plenteous  days  for  the  Bahamas,  compared 
with  which  the  rich  tourist  toll  since  levied  on  the 
then  hated  Yankees  is  but  small  change.  The  for- 
tunes yielded  by  blockade  running  seemed  made  by 

[26] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

magic,  so  quick  was  the  process.  Cotton  that  was 
bought  in  Charleston  or  Wilmington  for  ten  cents  a 
pound  sold  for  ten  times  as  much  in  the  Bahamas  and 
there  were  enormous  profits  in  the  return  cargoes  of 
military  supplies.  The  captains  and  crews  shared  in 
the  proceeds  and  the  health  of  the  Confederacy  was 
drunk  continuously,  and  often  riotously.  By  the  time 
I  projected  myself  temporarily  into  this  golden  atmos- 
phere of  abnormal  activity,  running  the  blockade  had 
become  more  of  a  business  and  less  of  a  romance  than 
it  was  in  the  reckless  early  days  of  the  war.  The 
fleet  was  made  up  of  fast  ships  of  light  draft,  espe- 
cially built  to  meet  the  needs  and  dangers  of  the  trade, 
and  they  were  so  much  faster  than  the  warships 
which  hunted  them  that  the  percentage  captured  was 
relatively  very  small. 

Before  leaving  Bermuda  I  had  ordered  a  cargo  of 
munitions  of  war  sent  to  Turk's  Island.  We  had  to 
wait  nearly  a  month  for  this  shipment  to  arrive  but 
the  time  was.  well  spent  in  overhauling  the  engines 
and  putting  the  "Letter  B"  in  perfect  condition. 

My  second  trip  to  Charleston  furnished  a  degree  of 
excitement  that  exalted  my  soul.  While  we  were 
held  up  at  Turk's  Island  the  blockading  fleet  had 
been  strengthened  and  supplemented  by  several  small 
and  fast  boats  which  cruised  around  outside  of  the 

[27] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

line.  Without  knowing  this  I  had  decided  —  it  must 
have  been  in  response  to  a  "  hunch  "  —  to  make  a  dash 
straight  through  the  line  and  into  the  harbor.  It 
was  fortunate  that  we  followed  this  plan  for  they 
were  expecting  us  to  come  up  from  the  south,  hug- 
ging the  shore  as  we  had  done  before,  and  if  we  had 
taken  that  course  they  certainly  would  have  sunk  us 
or  forced  us  aground.  We  were  proceeding  cau- 
tiously but  did  not  think  we  were  close  to  the  danger 
zone  when  suddenly  one  of  the  patrol  ships  picked 
us  up  and  opened  fire.  Her  guns  were  no  better  than 
peashooters  but  they  gave  the  signal  to  the  fleet  and 
instantly  lights  popped  up  all  along  the  line  ahead  of 
us.  When  caught  in  such  a  trap,  if  I  had  not  been 
thirsting  for  thrills,  I  would  have  shown  them  our 
heels,  for  we  could  have  gotten  away  without  any 
trouble;  but  the  demon  of  dare-deviltry  seized  and 
gripped  me. 

In  the  flashing  lights  ahead  I  saw  all  of  the  excite- 
ment I  had  been  longing  for,  and  with  an  exultant 
yell  to  the  helmsman  to  "tell  the  engineer  to  give 
her  hell,"  I  pushed  him  aside  and  seized  the  wheel. 
I  fondled  the  spokes  lovingly  and  leaned  over  them 
in  a  tumult  of  joy.  It  was  the  great  moment  of 
which  I  had  dreamed  from  boyhood.  I  had  antici- 
pated that  when  it  came  I  would  be  considerably 

[28] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

excited  and  forgetful  of  all  my  carefully  thought 
out  plans  for  meeting  an  emergency,  but  to  my  sur- 
prise I  found  that  I  was  as  cool  as  though  we  were 
riding  at  anchor  in  New  York  Bay.  In  the  first  flash 
I  felt  myself  grow  cold  all  over  and  then  a  gentle 
current  of  electricity  began  running  through  me,  as 
though  my  heart  had  been  transformed  into  a  dynamo 
and  my  veins  into  fine  wires.  The  opening  gun 
cleared  my  mind  of  all  its  anxieties  and  intensified 
its  action.  I  remember  that  I  took  time  to  analyze 
my  feelings  to  make  sure  that  I  was  calm  and  col- 
lected and  not  stunned  and  stolid,  and  that  I  was 
silent  from  choice  and  not  through  anything  of  fear. 
I  counted  the  blockading  ships  as  their  hidden  lights 
flashed  out  and  wondered  how  their  officers  and 
crews  enjoyed  being  dragged  out  of  their  first  sound 
sleep  by  my  impertinent  little  vessel.  I  measured  the 
distance  we  would  have  to  go  to  clear  their  line  and 
tried  to  figure  out,  from  a  rough  calculation  as  to  the 
number  of  their  guns  and  the  accuracy  of  their  fire, 
the  mathematical  probability  of  our  being  sunk. 
Strange  though  it  may  seem,  the  possibility  of  our 
capture  never  occurred  to  me.  We  might  be  sent  to 
the  bottom,  and  would  be  if  it  were  so  decreed  by 
Fate,  but  otherwise  we  would  get  away,  and  the  only 
other  question  was  as  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  our 

[29] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

injuries.  When  we  were  fairly  under  their  spiteful 
guns  I  thought  of  what  great  sport  it  would  be  if  we 
could  only  return  their  fire  on  something  like  even 
terms.  I  compared  the  wide,  individualistic  oppor- 
tunity of  naval  warfare  with  routine  battles  on  land, 
which  are  fought  by  rules  laid  down  for  every  condi- 
tion that  can  arise,  and  unhesitatingly  decided  in 
favor  of  the  sea,  with  its  long-nursed  passion  for  the 
man  who  dares  its  fury,  and  its  despotism  over  him 
who  fears  it. 

As  though  spurred  by  a  human  impulse  the  good 
little  ship  sprang  forward  as  she  felt  the  full  force  of 
her  engines,  and  never  did  she  make  such  another  race 
of  it  as  she  did  that  night.  In  the  sea  then  running 
and  at  the  speed  we  were  going  we  would  ordinarily 
have  had  two  men  at  the  wheel,  but  I  found  it  so 
easy  and  so  delightful  to  handle  the  ship  alone  that 
I  declined  the  assistance  of  Captain  Williams,  who 
stood  just  behind  me.  Though  I  am  not  tall,  being  not 
much  over  five  feet  and  eight  inches,  nature  was  kind  in 
giving  me  a  well  set  up  frame  and  a  powerful  con- 
stitution, devoid  of  nerves  but  with  muscles  of 
steel,  —  in  those  days  and  for  many  years  after, — 
and  with  a  reserve  supply  of  strength  that  made  me 
marvel  at  its  source.  Through  all  of  my  active  life 
I  kept  myself  in  as  perfect  condition  as  a  trained 

[30] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

athlete,  despite  occasional  dissipations  ashore,  and 
I  never  got  into  a  close  corner  without  feeling  myself 
possessed  of  the  strength  of  half  a  dozen  ordinary 
men.  Consequently  the  tugs  of  the  wheel  as  we  tore 
through  the  water  toward  Charleston  seemed  like  a 
child's  pulls  on  a  string. 

The  widest  opening  in  the  already  closing  line  was, 
luckily,  directly  in  front  of  us,  and  I  headed  for  it. 
The  sparks  that  were  streaming  from  our  smoke- 
stack and  the  lights  of  the  patrol  which  was  trying 
to  follow  us,  gave  the  blockaders  our  course  as  plainly 
as  though  it  had  been  noonday,  and  they  closed  in 
from  both  sides  to  head  us  off.  Evidently  they  con- 
sidered that  time  was  also  fleeting  for  they  lost  not  a 
moment  in  getting  their  guns  to  going,  and  shot  and 
shell  screamed  and  sang  all  around  the  undaunted 
"Letter  B."  First  the  mainmast  and  then  the  fore- 
mast came  down  with  a  crash,  littering  the  decks  with 
their  gear.  A  shell  carried  death  into  the  forecastle. 
One  shot  tore  away  the  two  forward  stanchions  of 
the  pilot  house  and  another  one  smashed  through  the 
roof  but  neither  Captain  Williams  nor  I  was  injured 
by  so  much  as  a  splinter.  All  of  our  boats  and  most  of 
our  upper  works  were  literally  shot  to  pieces.  That 
we  were  not  sent  to  the  bottom  on  the  run  was  no 
tribute  to  the  skill  of  the  Yankee  gunners.  They 

[31] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

could  not  have  been  more  than  half  awake  when  they 
began  firing  on  us  and  we  were  flying  so  fast  that 
it  appeared  to  disconcert  them,  even  after  they  got 
their  bearings.  If  they  had  taken  time  to  depress 
their  guns  the  race  would  have  been  a  short  one, 
but  they  all  wanted  to  sink  us  at  once,  with  the  result 
that  only  one  shot  struck  us  below  the  main  deck, 
and  that  did  very  little  damage  to  the  ship. 

From  first  to  last  we  must  have  been  under  that 
terrific  fire  for  half  an  hour  but  it  seemed  not  more 
than  a  few  minutes,  and  it  really  was  with  something 
of  regret  that  I  found  the  shots  were  falling  astern, 
for  I  had  enjoyed  the  experience  immensely.  When 
we  got  up  to  the  dock  we  found  that  five  of  our  men 
had  been  killed  and  a  dozen  more  or  less  seriously 
injured.  The  ship  had  not  been  damaged  at  all  so 
far  as  speed  and  seaworthiness  in  ordinary  weather 
were  concerned,  though  she  looked  a  wreck.  The 
blockaders  thought  we  were  much  more  seriously 
injured  than  was  actually  the  case  but  their  mistake 
was  one  that  could  easily  be  pardoned.  They 
expected  we  would  be  laid  up  for  a  month.  Con- 
sequently when  we  steamed  out  on  the  fourth  night, 
after  making  only  temporary  repairs,  they  were  not 
looking  for  us  and  we  got  through  their  line  without 
much  trouble.  A  few  shots  were  fired  at  us  when  we 

[32] 


UNDER  FIRE  THE  FIRST  TIME 

were  almost  clear  but  not  one  of  them  came  aboard 
and  we  were  not  pursued;  they  had  come  to  have 
great  respect  for  our  speed.  We  refitted  at  Turk's 
Island,  where  we  laid  up  for  three  weeks. 

I  made  two  more  trips  to  Charleston  without  any 
very  exciting  experiences,  though  we  were  fired  on 
both  times,  and  then  sold  the  ship  to  an  enterprising 
Englishman  who  was  waiting  for  me  at  Turk's  Island. 
I  had  made  a  comfortable  fortune  with  her  and  sold 
her  for  more  than  I  paid  for  her.  She  was  in  almost 
as  good  condition  as  when  I  bought  her,  but  I  have 
made  it  a  rule  never  to  overplay  my  luck,  and  I  knew 
I  had  run  about  as  many  trips  with  her  as  I  could 
expect  to  make  without  a  change  of  fortune.  I  am 
under  the  impression  that  the  ship  and  her  new  owner 
were  captured  on  her  next  trip  to  Charleston,  but  am 
not  sure  as  to  that. 


[33] 


CHAPTER   II 
FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

T  T  AVING  succeeded  as  a  blockade  runner  I  was 
•*•  ^  ambitious  to  become  a  filibuster,  which  kindred 
vocation  I  thought  offered  even  greater  opportunities 
for  adventure.  Immediately  after  the  sale  of  the 
"Letter  B,"  in  the  latter  part  of  1864,  I  returned  to 
New  York,  in  the  hope  that  the  Cespedes  revolution 
in  Cuba  would  have  been  sprung  and  a  Junta  estab- 
lished with  which  I  could  work.  I  found  that  the 
revolt  was  still  hatching  and  that  no  New  York  agent 
had  been  appointed,  so,  for  want  of  something  better 
to  do,  I  bought  from  Benjamin  Wood,  editor  of  the 
New  York  News,  the  old  Franklin  Avenue  distil- 
lery in  Brooklyn.  This  venture  resulted  in  an  open 
and  final  rupture  with  my  family,  who  were  virtuously 
outraged  to  begin  with  because  of  the  aid  I  had  given 
the  South  as  a  blockade  runner.  I  left  home  in  a  rage 
and  swore  that  I  would  never  again  set  foot  in  it  or 
set  eyes  on  any  member  of  the  family,  and  except 
for  a  visit  to  my  father  just  before  he  died,  not  long 
afterward,  I  have  kept  my  vow.  I  was  always  his 
favorite  son,  in  spite  of  my  wild  love  of  adventure 

[34] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

and  the  ways  into  which  it  led  me,  and  when  I  got 
word  that  he  was  seriously  ill  I  went  to  him  at  once, 
but  I  saw  no  one  else  in  the  house  except  the 
servants. 

The  Franklin  Avenue  distillery  was  then  the  largest 
in  the  East  but  it  had  not  been  in  operation  for  sev- 
eral years.  I  put  Charles  McLaughlin  in  charge  of  the 
plant  and  set  it  in  motion.  Two  or  three  other  dis- 
tilleries were  then  running  in  Williamsburg,  one  of 
which  was  owned  by  Oscar  King.  I  had  been  in  the 
distillery  business  only  a  few  months,  during  which 
time  the  property  had  shown  a  large  profit,  when, 
while  attending  a  performance  at  the  old  Grand  Opera 
House  with  Andrew  W.  Gill,  I  met  "  Jim  "  Fisk,  with 
whom  I  had  become  acquainted  in  my  boyhood  days. 
At  the  time  I  had  known  him  he  was  running  a  gaudy 
pedler's  wagon  out  of  Boston.  He  was  laid  up  for  a 
week  by  a  prank  which  I  played  on  him  in  George 
Steele's  store  at  Ferrisburg,  Vermont,  but  after  that 
we  became  good  friends. 

Fisk,  big  and  loudly  dressed  and  displaying  the 
airs  which  later  helped  to  earn  for  him  the  sobriquet 
of  "Jim  Jubilee  Junior,"  entered  the  theatre  in  com- 
pany with  Jay  Gould,  his  new  friend  and  future  part- 
ner in  the  looting  of  the  Erie  and  the  great  Gold 
Conspiracy,  to  say  nothing  of  many  minor  maraud- 

[35] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ings  into  misappropriated  millions.  In  the  dramatic 
surroundings,  Gould,  half-dwarfed  but  plainly  making 
up  in  nerve  and  shrewdness  what  he  lacked  in  stature, 
with  his  black  beard  and  darting  eyes  and  his  care- 
less attire,  put  me  in  mind  of  a  pirate,  wherein  my 
artistic  judgment  played  me  no  trick,  and,  to  complete 
the  picture,  Fisk  suggested  himself  as  the  little  man's 
business  agent.  Fisk  swept  his  eyes  around  the 
theatre  with  something  of  a  look  of  challenge,  as 
though  he  wondered  if  there  were  any  persons  there 
who  knew  him,  and,  if  so,  how  much  they  knew  about 
him.  His  roving  gaze  fell  on  me  and  he  nodded  and 
smiled.  A  moment  later  he  excused  himself  and  came 
over  to  talk  to  me,  while  Gould  followed  him  with 
his  snapping  eyes  and  drove  them  through  me  with  a 
searching  inquiry  which  seemed  to  satisfy  him  that 
I  was  simply  an  old  acquaintance  and  harbored  no 
predatory  plot.  Their  intimacy  was  then  in  its 
infancy  and  Gould  appeared  to  be  half  suspicious  of 
every  man  with  whom  Fisk  talked. 

No  doubt  it  was  fate  that  drew  Fisk  and  me 
together.  He  intimated,  in  his  grandiloquent  way, 
that  he  was  in  a  huckleberry  patch  where  nothing  but 
money  grew  on  the  bushes,  and  asked  what  I  was 
doing  that  I  looked  so  prosperous  and  well  satisfied 
with  myself.  I  told  him  briefly  and  he  asked  me  to 

[36] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

call  on  him  the  next  day.  I  did  not  go  to  see  him 
but  the  following  day  he  called  on  me  at  the  St. 
Nicholas  Hotel.  After  we  had  exchanged  confidences 
regarding  our  careers  he  said  he  wanted  to  buy  a  half 
interest  in  the  distillery  and  asked  me  to  put  a  price 
on  it.  I  told  him  I  did  not  want  a  partner.  He 
insisted  and  said  he  had  influence  at  Washington, 
which  he  afterward  proved,  and  that  it  would  be  val- 
uable to  us. 

"We  will  make  a  good  team,"  he  said.  "Here," 
and  he  scribbled  off  a  check  for  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  and  tossed  it  over  to  me,  "now  we  are 
partners." 

"Not  much,"  I  said,  as  I  tossed  it  back  to  him. 
"  I  am  making  too  much  money  for  you  to  get  in  at 
that  price,  even  if  I  wanted  you  as  a  partner." 

"All  right,  then,"  he  replied,  as  he  wrote  out 
another  check  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars and  handed  it  to  me,  "take  that.  I  am  in  half 
with  you  now." 

Before  I  could  enter  another  objection  he  stalked 
out  of  the  room  and  I  let  it  go  at  that,  for  I  had  a 
scheme  in  mind  and  figured  that  his  influence,  if  it 
was  as  powerful  as  he  claimed,  would  be  useful. 

The  constant  and  heavy  increase  in  the  tax  on 
spirits  had  forced  all  of  the  distillers  except  King  and 

[37] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

me  to  shut  down,  and  when  it  finally  reached  a  point 
where  high  wines  which  it  cost  two  dollars  and  forty 
cents  a  gallon  to  produce,  by  the  ordinary  methods 
and  with  the  payment  of  the  full  tax,  were  selling 
for  one  dollar  and  ninety  cents  a  gallon,  King 
was  compelled  to  go  out  of  business.  In  the  mean- 
time I  had  devised  a  scheme  for  reducing  the  proof 
before  the  tax  was  paid  and  then,  by  a  chemical  proc- 
ess which  operated  mechanically,  restoring  the  proof 
until  the  product  was  almost,  if  not  quite,  equal  to 
Cologne  spirits.  My  contention  was  that  my  process 
improved  the  quality  of  the  spirits,  which  it  assuredly 
did,  but  the  effect  of  it  was  that  I  and  not  the  Govern- 
ment received  the  full  benefit  of  the  change.  By  Fisk's 
advice  I  engaged  Robert  Corwin,  of  Dayton,  Ohio, 
a  cousin  of  the  great  "Tom"  Corwin,  and  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  high  officials  in  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment, whose  names  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention  at 
this  late  date,  to  secure  a  patent  on  my  process. 
While  the  application  was  pending  I  was  given  per- 
mission to  use  my  process,  the  result  being  that 
I  could  operate  at  a  good  profit,  while  the  other 
distillers  could  not  run  except  at  a  heavy  loss.  We 
were,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  cheating  the  Government, 
and  I  have  since  thought  that  it  probably  was  Fisk's 
influence  rather  than  any  merit  in  my  invention  that 

[38] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

made  it  smooth  sailing  for  us,  but  I  did  not  then  look 
at  it  in  that  light.  I  considered  that  I  was  a  very 
clever  young  man  and  that  I  was  rightfully  entitled 
to  profit  by  my  shrewdness,  without  any  regard  to 
the  rights  of  the  Government,  or  to  what  rival  con- 
cerns might  think  about  it. 

King  and  the  other  distillers,  convinced  that  there 
was  something  wrong  somewhere,  tried  repeatedly 
but  in  vain  to  discover  our  method  of  operation. 
Then  they  complained  to  Washington  and  one 
revenue  officer  after  another  came  over  to  investi- 
gate us.  During  the  progress  of  these  protests,  which 
in  the  course  of  a  year  or  more  increased  in  number 
and  vigor,  the  revolt  in  Cuba  had  broken  out  and  the 
old  sea  lust,  with  its  passion  for  excitement,  came 
over  me.  I  wanted  Fisk  to  buy  my  interest  in  the 
distillery  but  he  suggested  that  we  quit  business  and 
we  did  so,  with  a  profit  of  about  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars. 

Fisk  and  I  continued  in  partnership  and  in  the 
Summer  of  1866  we  bought  the  fast  and  stanch  little 
steamer  "Edgar  Stuart,"  which  had  been  a  blockade 
runner.  We  bought  a  cargo  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion, consisting  of  old  Sharps  rifles  and  six  moun- 
tain guns,  and  were  just  putting  it  on  board  when 
the  first  Cuban  Junta  came  to  New  York  and  opened 

[39] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

offices  on  New  Street.  They  sent  for  me  and  wanted 
to  buy  our  cargo  and  pay  for  it  in  bonds  of  the  Cuban 
Republic,  at  a  big  discount.  I  refused,  as  we  insisted 
on  gold  or  its  equivalent,  which  has  always  been  my 
rule  in  dealing  in  contraband.  They  finally  arranged 
that  we  should  be  paid  part  in  cash,  on  the  delivery 
of  the  arms,  and  the  balance  in  fine  Havana  cigars. 
The  Spaniards  were  not  as  watchful  then  as  they 
found  it  necessary  to  be  later  on  and  the  arms  were 
delivered  without  much  trouble  at  Cape  Maysi,  at 
the  extreme  eastern  end  of  Cuba.  On  our  return  the 
cigars  we  had  received  in  part  payment,  in  water- 
proof cases  and  attached  to  floats,  were  thrown  over- 
board in  the  lower  bay,  to  be  picked  up  by  waiting 
small  boats  and  sold  to  a  tobacco  merchant  who  had 
a  store  in  the  old  Stevens  House. 

By  the  time  we  got  back  the  Junta  had  raised  funds 
from  some  source  and  engaged  us  to  deliver  several 
cargoes  of  arms  to  the  rebels.  I  was  always  in  com- 
mand of  these  expeditions,  with  a  sailing  master  in 
charge  of  the  ship,  while,  in  keeping  with  our  agree- 
ment, Fisk  stayed  at  home  and  attended  to  the  Wash- 
ington end  of  the  business.  When  we  sailed  without 
clearance  papers,  as  we  sometimes  were  compelled 
to  do  to  avoid  detention  and  arrest,  for  we  were  con- 
stantly under  suspicion,  Fisk  exerted  his  influence 

£40] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

with  such  good  effect  that  we  never  were  prosecuted. 
We  made  three  or  four  trips  to  Cape  Maysi,  and  on 
one  occasion  took  one  hundred  women  and  children 
from  there  to  Cape  San  Antonio,  at  the  western  end 
of  the  island,  where  the  rebels  were  better  able  to 
protect  them. 

In  furtherance  of  their  efforts  to  establish  a  gov- 
ernment and  make  such  a  formidable  showing  as 
would  secure  their  recognition,  especially  by  the 
United  States,  as  belligerents,  thus  making  it  legal 
to  sell  them  munitions  of  war,  the  revolutionists 
attempted  to  build  up  a  navy.  Through  the  Junta 
they  bought  the  fore  and  aft  schooner  "Pioneer," 
which  was  fitted  out  as  a  warship  and  placed  in  com- 
mand of  Francis  Lay  Norton,  who  was  given  the  rank 
of  Admiral  of  the  Cuban  Navy.  He  sailed  up  through 
Long  Island  Sound  and  out  past  Montauk  Point, 
where  he  hoisted  the  Cuban  flag,  saluted  it,  and 
gravely  declared  the  "Pioneer"  in  commission.  He 
neglected  to  wait  until  he  was  well  out  on  the  high 
seas  before  going  through  with  this  formality  and  a 
revenue  cutter  which  had  followed  him  seized  his 
ship  and  brought  it  dismally  back  to  port  as  a  fili- 
buster. I  did  not  then  know  Norton  but  we  after- 
ward became  partners  and  fought  side  by  side 
through  adventures  and  exploits  more  thrilling  than 

[41] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

any  that  have  ever  been  told  about  in  fiction,  so  far 
as  I  have  read.  Without  knowing  him  I  had  great 
respect  for  his  nerve  but  not  much  for  his  discretion, 
as  displayed  in  the  "Pioneer"  incident,  and  the  inti- 
mate association  of  later  years  did  not  change  my 
opinion  of  him  except  to  increase  my  admiration  for 
his  superb  daring. 

One  night  I  received  a  hurry  call  from  the  Junta. 
The  "  Stuart "  was  then  partly  loaded  with  a  fresh 
supply  of  arms  and  was  waiting  for  the  rest  of  the 
shipment,  coming  from  Bridgeport,  Connecticut. 
The  Cubans  had  been  tipped  off  from  Washington 
that  she  was  to  be  seized  the  next  day  on  suspicion 
of  filibustering,  which  could  have  been  proved  easily, 
and  they  asked  me  to  take  her  out  that  night  and 
call  at  Baltimore  for  the  rest  of  the  cargo,  which 
would  be  shipped  there  direct  from  Bridgeport. 
Greatly  pleased  by  this  evidence  of  increased  Spanish 
activity  against  us  and  the  prospect  of  some  excit- 
ing times,  I  went  to  the  ship  without  returning  to 
my  hotel  and  we  got  under  way  soon  after  midnight, 
though  with  a  short  crew.  At  daylight  I  hove  to  and 
repainted  and  rechristened  the  ship  and  presented 
her  with  a  new  set  of  papers,  making  it  appear  that 
she  belonged  to  William  Shannon  of  Barbadoes  and 
was  taking  on  supplies,  including  some  arms  of 

[42] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

course,  for  West  Indian  planters.  We  loafed  along 
and  the  balance  of  the  cargo,  which  had  been  sent  to 
Baltimore  by  express,  was  waiting  for  us  when  we 
got  there.  We  hustled  it  on  board  and  were  just  pre- 
paring to  sail  when  the  ship  was  seized  by  the  United 
States  Marshal,  under  orders  from  Washington. 

"Why,  Captain,  your  new  coat  of  paint  isn't  dry 
yet,"  said  the  marshal.  "That  ship  was  the  '  Edgar 
Stuart*  when  you  left  New  York,  all  right  enough." 
I  protested  that  I  was  sailing  under  the  British  flag 
but  he  only  smiled  and,  naturally,  I  did  not  appeal  to 
the  British  consul  for  protection.  There  were  fra- 
ternal reasons  why  the  marshal  and  I  could  talk  con- 
fidentially, and,  though  he  had  no  right  to  do  it,  he 
told  me  that  he  expected  to  have  a  warrant  for  my 
arrest  in  the  morning.  That  made  it  serious  business 
for  me,  as  I  had  no  desire  to  become  entangled  with 
the  authorities  even  though  I  had  full  confidence  in 
Fisk's  ability  to  get  me  out  of  trouble,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  get  away,  and  take  my  ship  with  me. 

The  marshal  left  three  watchmen  on  the  ship  to 
guarantee  her  continued  presence.  Edward  Coffee,  my 
steward,  was  a  man  who  knew  every  angle  of  his 
business.  Soon  after  dark  he  served  the  watchers 
with  a  lunch  and  followed  it  with  a  bottle  of  wine 
which  had  been  carefully  prepared,  though  no  one 

[43] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

could  have  told  it  had  been  tampered  with.  In  ten 
minutes  they  were  asleep  and  in  twice  that  time 
we  were  out  in  the  stream  and  headed  south.  We 
cleared  the  Virginia  capes  at  daylight,  aroused 
the  surprised  guards  and  loaned  them  a  boat  in  which 
they  rowed  ashore.  There  was  no  government  ship 
in  those  waters  that  could  catch  us  so  we  proceeded 
on  our  course  without  any  misgivings,  leaving  it  to 
Fisk  to  straighten  matters  out.  We  delivered  the 
cargo  about  sixty  miles  west  of  Cape  Maysi  and  then 
went  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  where  I  wired  to  Fisk 
to  ascertain  the  lay  of  the  land.  He  replied  that  he 
had  "squared"  things  with  the  authorities  and  it 
was  safe  for  me  to  return  but  that  it  would  be  best 
to  leave  the  ship  at  Halifax  for  a  while.  I  accordingly 
took  the  train  for  New  York  and  in  two  or  three 
weeks  Captain  Williams  followed  with  the  "  Stuart," 
which  had  been  restored  to  her  real  self,  though 
painted  a  different  color  than  when  she  left  New 
York. 

Our  expeditions  with  the  "Stuart"  had  been  so 
successful  that  the  Spanish  Government,  through  its 
minister  at  Washington,  had  arranged  with  the  Dela- 
mater  Iron  Works,  on  the  Hudson,  for  the  purchase 
of  several  small  gunboats,  each  carrying  two  guns, 
which  were  to  operate  against  filibusters.  We  had 

[44] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

not  lost  a  single  cargo,  either  while  operating  with 
the  Junta  or  independently  of  it.  In  some  instances 
the  Spanish  cavalry  swooped  down  and  captured  part 
of  the  shipment  before  the  rebels  could  get  all  of  it 
back  into  the  bush,  but  that  was  in  no  sense  our  fault. 
Fisk  had  learned  the  terms  of  the  Spanish  minister's 
contract  with  the  Delamater  Company  and  the  date 
that  was  specified  for  the  delivery  of  the  gunboats, 
but  we  did  not  know  of  a  secret  and  verbal  under- 
standing by  which  they  were  to  be  delivered  several 
weeks  in  advance  of  that  time.  The  result  was  that 
on  my  next,  and  last,  trip  to  Cuba  I  ran  full  tilt  into 
one  of  the  new  boats,  as  I  was  not  looking  for  them. 
We  raised  Cape  Maysi  late  in  the  afternoon  and 
were  close  inshore  and  not  far  from  the  lighthouse 
when  a  little  steamer  came  racing  up  on  our  star- 
board bow.  I  saw  that  she  was  flying  the  Spanish 
flag  but  that  meant  nothing  in  those  waters  and  I 
paid  no  attention  to  her,  as  she  was  nothing  like  the 
ordinary  Spanish  type  of  gunboat,  for  which  I  was 
on  the  lookout.  She  steamed  up  to  windward  of  us 
and  I  opened  my  eyes  when  she  fired  a  blank  shot 
across  our  bows,  as  a  signal  to  heave  to.  I  promptly 
ran  up  the  British  flag  and  kept  on  my  course,  where- 
upon she  sent  a  solid  shot  just  ahead  of  us.  Then  I 
hove  to  and  a  lieutenant  and  boat's  crew  came 

[45] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

aboard.  It  looked  like  a  bad  case.  While  the  lieu- 
tenant was  being  rowed  to  the  "  Stuart "  I  had  a  lot 
of  black  powder  stored  under  the  break  of  the  poop, 
just  below  my  cabin,  and  laid  a  fuse  to  it.  I  did  this 
primarily  for  the  purpose  of  running  a  strong  bluff 
on  the  Spaniards,  but  I  had  made  up  my  mind  that  if 
it  came  to  the  worst  I  would  blow  up  my  ship  and 
take  a  long  chance  on  getting  ashore  in  the  small 
boats.  I  figured  that  the  commander  of  the  gunboat 
would  stop  to  pick  up  those  of  his  crew  who  were  sent 
skyward  by  the  explosion  and  that  this  would  allow 
sufficient  time  for  some  of  us,  at  least,  to  escape, 
which  was  much  better  than  to  sit  still  and  have 
all  hands  captured  and  executed. 

When  the  lieutenant  came  aboard  he  called  for 
my  papers  and  I  gave  him  the  usual  forged  set,  which 
indicated  British  registry  and  concealed  the  nature 
of  the  cargo.  He  was  not  satisfied  and  ordered  me 
to  open  the  hatches,  which  I  refused  to  do.  He  pro- 
cured some  tools  and  was  having  his  men  open  them 
when  I  gave  the  signal  to  lower  the  boats  quickly, 
and  man  them.  The  Spaniards  looked  on  in  wonder 
but  interposed  no  objection  to  our  hurried  departure. 
Then  I  ostentatiously  lit  the  fuse  in  my  cabin  and  as 
I  was  getting  into  my  boat  I  said  to  the  lieutenant: 

[46] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

"I  wish  you  luck  in  going  over  my  cargo.     You'll 
be  in  hell  in  just  about  three  minutes." 

Without  asking  a  question  or  saying  a  word  the 
young  officer  bundled  his  men  and  himself  into  his 
boat  and  I  lost  as  little  time  in  hustling  my  men  back 
onto  the  "Stuart"  and  pulling  out  the  fuse,  which 
was  a  long  one,  as  I  had  a  notion  things  might  turn 
out  just  as  they  did.  Had  he  not  flown  into  a  state 
of  panic,  which  is  characteristic  of  the  Latin  races, 
the  lieutenant  could  have  pulled  out  the  sputtering 
fuse,  just  as  I  did,  and  removed  the  danger,  at  the 
same  time  putting  the  rest  of  us  in  a  bad  way;  but 
it  seemed  that  such  an  idea  never  occurred  to  him. 
It  was  simply  a  case  of  matching  American  nerve 
against  Spanish  blood,  and  I  won.  The  gunboat  was 
half  a  mile  to  windward  and  a  choppy  sea  was  run- 
ning so  the  lieutenant  had  his  hands  full  managing 
his  boat  and  had  no  time  to  try  to  make  any  signals. 
I  ordered  full  speed  ahead  and  ran  across  the  gun- 
boat's bows,  dipping  our  ensign  as  we  passed.  The 
commander  of  the  gunboat,  thinking  everything  was 
all  right,  returned  our  salute  and  dropped  down  to 
pick  up  the  lieutenant.  When  he  got  to  the  small 
boat  and  discovered  the  trick  that  had  been  played 
on  him  he  sent  a  shot  after  us,  which  went  a  mile 
away,  and  gave  chase,  but  it  was  no  use.  It  was  get- 

[47] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ting  dusk  by  that  time  and  in  fifteen  minutes  it  was 
dark,  for  there  is  no  twilight  in  the  tropics.  I  swung 
around  in  a  wide  circle,  picked  up  a  little  inlet  near 
Gonaives  Bay  in  which  the  rebels  were  waiting,  and 
had  my  cargo  unloaded  and  was  headed  back  for  New 
York  before  daylight. 

Some  of  the  filibustering  trips  were  made  at  long 
intervals,  on  account  of  the  difficulties  encountered 
by  the  Junta  in  raising  funds,  and  between  two  of 
them,  in  1867,  I  went  to  Washington,  at  the  invita- 
tion of  Leonard  Swett,  of  Chicago,  and  Dr.  Fowler, 
of  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  was  introduced  by  them  to 
President  Johnson.  Swett  and  Fowler  were  trying 
to  line  up  Illinois  for  Johnson,  and  Fisk  thought  it 
might  strengthen  his  hand  in  Washington  to  have 
me  meet  the  President  and  offer  to  assist  him  in 
any  way  I  could.  A  few  days  later  the  President 
sent  for  me  and  asked  me  to  become  his  con- 
fidential political .  agent.  He  frankly  said  he  doubted 
the  accuracy  of  reports  which  had  been  made  to  him 
regarding  the  feeling  in  the  Middle  West  toward  his 
nomination  for  the  presidency,  and  he  wanted  me  to 
visit  that  section  and  advise  him  as  to  the  real  senti- 
ment, with  particular  reference  to  Illinois.  I  accepted, 
being  flattered,  I  presume,  by  the  idea  of  being  in 
confidential  relations  with  a  President.  To  give 

[48] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

me  a  standing  and  clothe  me  with  an  air  of  mystery 
he  appointed  me  acting  chief  of  the  Secret  Service, 
from  which  he  had  removed  General  W.  P.  Wood. 
"Andy"  was  careful  to  explain,  however,  that  my 
appointment  was  not  to  be  announced  or  generally 
known  for  the  time  being  and  that  he  did  not  want 
me  to  bother  about  the  ordinary  operations  of  the 
Secret  Service  Bureau,  which  were  in  charge  of 
Colonel  L.  C.  Whitely,  later  appointed  chief.  With- 
in two  months  I  reported  to  the  President  that 
his  friends  had  flattered  him,  that  he  did  not  have  a 
chance  of  carrying  Illinois,  and  that  sentiment  was 
running  strongly  against  him  throughout  the  West. 
The  insight  I  thus  gained  into  politics  quickly  con- 
vinced me  that  it  was  too  dishonorable  and  not  excit- 
ing enough  for  me,  so  I  resigned  and  went  back  to 
filibustering. 

If  Johnson  had  ever  had  a  chance  of  being  nomi- 
nated to  succeed  himself  in  the  place  of  power  to 
which  he  was  elevated  by  the  murder  of  Lincoln,  it 
would  have  been  destroyed  by  his  "swing  around 
the  circle,"  when  he  went  to  Chicago,  in  1866,  to 
attend  a  cornerstone  laying  in  honor  of  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  During  the  trip  he  quarrelled  violently 
with  every  one  who  disagreed  with  his  reconstruction 
policy  and  descended,  in  his  speeches,  to  the  level  of 

[49] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

the  ward  heeler.  I  never  was  paid  for  this  secret  ser- 
vice work,  nor  for  the  expenses  I  incurred,  and  my 
failure  to  receive  vouchers  for  my  salary  made  it 
apparent  to  me  that  my  appointment  had  not  been  a 
formal  one.  The  experience  was  interesting,  how- 
ever, as  a  temporary  diversion,  and  I  was  satisfied 
to  regard  it  as  a  quid  pro  quo  for  favors  Fisk  and  I 
had  received  from  the  Administration,  and  which  we 
might  expect  to  continue  to  receive,  and  let  it  go  at 
that.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Johnson  looked  at  the 
matter  in  the  same  light. 

While  the  "Stuart"  was  laid  up  for  repairs  at  one 
time,  during  the  Cuban  expeditions,  Capt.  Williams 
and  I  took  the  famous  "Virginius"  out  on  her  first 
trip,  with  a  cargo  of  arms  from  the  Junta.  The  Junta 
wanted  me  to  keep  her  but  I  refused,  on  account  of 
her  size.  She  was  larger  than  the  "Stuart"  but  no 
faster,  and  had  quarters  for  a  considerable  number  of 
men  outside  of  her  crew,  which  the  "  Stuart "  had  not. 
I  foresaw  that  they  would  want  to  use  her  in  trans- 
porting men,  and  to  put  her  into  that  service  would 
greatly  increase  the  risk  of  her  capture.  The  ideal 
vessel  for  filibustering  purposes  is  a  small,  stout  ship 
of  light  draft  and  high  speed,  without  room,  to  say 
nothing  of  accommodations,  for  passengers.  A  large 
hold  is  not  required,  for  a  mighty  valuable  cargo  of 

[50] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

arms  can  be  stowed  away  in  a  comparatively  small 
space.  The  man  in  command  of  a  filibustering  expe- 
dition must  be  prepared  for  any  emergency  and  needs 
to  have  his  wits  about  him  every  minute.  If  he  is  to 
succeed  he  cannot  think  about  anything  except  his 
cargo  and  its  delivery;  he  cannot  afford  to  have  any 
men  hanging  onto  his  coat  and  dividing  and  diverting 
his  attention.  Transporting  troops  is  a  very  different 
business  from  carrying  arms,  and  my  experience  has 
convinced  me  that  the  two  cannot  well  be  combined 
on  one  ship. 

Carrying  contraband  is  dangerous  business  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions.  The  hand  of  every 
nation  is  raised  against  you;  though  you  be  an 
American  the  flag  of  your  own  country,  even,  can 
give  you  no  protection,  for  you  are  engaged  in  an 
illegal  act,  however  much  it  may  stand  for  the 
advancement  of  humanity  and  the  spread  of  liberty. 
Save  for  those  with  whom  you  are  allied,  and  who 
necessarily  are  few  in  number,  else  they  would  be 
recognized  as  belligerents  and  given  the  rights  of 
war,  any  one  who  happens  along  the  sea's  highway 
is  liable  to  take  a  shot  at  you  or  try  to  capture  you, 
on  general  principles.  Therefore  the  commander  of 
a  filibustering  expedition  must  regard  desperate 
chances  as  a  part  of  the  daily  routine,  but  he  is  unwise 

[51] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

to  add  to  his  risks  by  complicating  his  mission.  He 
must,  too,  be  in  the  business  chiefly  for  the  love  of  the 
adventure  it  provides  as  royal  payment,  for  the  finan- 
cial returns,  except  in  cases  out  of  the  ordinary,  are 
as  nothing  compared  with  the  dangers  that  are 
encountered. 

Just  as  I  had  expected,  the  "  Virginius  "  after  many 
narrow  escapes  was  finally  captured  by  the  Spaniards 
on  October  31,  1873,  as  she  was  about  to  land  a  mixed 
cargo  of  men  and  arms  near  Santiago.  General 
Cespedes,  the  life  of  the  revolution,  and  three  of  his 
best  fighting  chiefs,  Generals  Ryan,  Varona,  and  Del 
Sal,  who  happened  to  be  on  board,  were  summarily 
executed.  This  was  done,  it  was  claimed,  under  prior 
sentences,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  there  was  not  so 
much  as  a  mockery  of  a  trial,  either  at  the  time 
they  were  put  to  death  or  previously.  All  of  the 
others  who  were  on  board  were  tried  for  piracy  and 
promptly  convicted,  of  course.  Within  a  week  after 
the  seizure  of  the  ship,  Capt.  Joseph  Fry,  her  Ameri- 
can commander,  thirty-six  of  his  crew,  and  sixteen 
"passengers,"  were  lined  up  and  shot  to  death,  with 
an  excess  of  brutality.  The  rest  of  the  prisoners,  who 
were  to  have  been  similarly  disposed  of,  were  saved, 
not  through  intervention  from  Washington  whence 
it  should  have  come,  but  by  the  timely  arrival  of  a 

[52] 


FILIBUSTERING  FOR  THE  CUBANS 

British  warship,  whose  commander  refused  to  permit 
any  further  butchery.  England  peremptorily  com- 
pelled the  Spanish  Government  to  pay  a  substantial 
indemnity  for  the  British  subjects  who  had  been  thus 
lawlessly  executed,  while  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, as  an  evidence  of  the  protection  it  gave  Ameri- 
can citizens  in  those  days,  waited  twenty-five  years 
before  taking  vengeance  on  Spain  for  the  murder  of 
Captain  Fry  and  his  companions.  But  for  the  "  Vir- 
ginius"  Massacre  and  the  bad  blood  it  engendered 
between  America  and  Spain,  Cuba  might  still  be  tak- 
ing orders  from  Madrid  instead  of  from  Washington ; 
had  it  not  been  for  that  never  forgotten  butchery  the 
blowing  up  of  the  "  Maine  "  might  have  been  regarded 
as  an  accident. 

Along  about  1868,  after  it  had  run  half  its  length, 
the  Ten  Years'  War  began  to  bog  down.  The  Cubans 
were  out  of  funds  and  appeared  to  have  lost  heart, 
and  it  looked  as  though  the  revolt  would  be  another 
failure.  There  was  nothing  else  doing  in  this  part  of 
the  world  in  which  I  was  interested  so  I  decided  to 
go  to  Europe,  being  attracted  by  the  prospect  of  war 
between  France  and  Germany  and  the  adventurous 
possibilities  which  it  suggested. 


[53] 


CHAPTER   III 
IN  LEAGUE  WITH  THE  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

TOURING  the  Cuban  filibustering  days  I  gained 
•*— '  more  notoriety  than  I  desired,  even  though  it 
really  was  not  a  great  deal,  and  as  I  did  not  wish  to 
be  known  as  a  trouble-maker  on  the  other  side,  where 
the  laws  against  the  carrying  of  contraband  were 
being  rigidly  enforced  on  account  of  the  recent  "  Ala- 
bama" affair,  I  lost  my  identity  while  crossing  the 
Atlantic.  When  I  reached  London  in  the  latter  part 
of  1868  I  was  "George  MacFarlane,"  and  in  order 
that  I  might  have  an  address  and  ostensible  occupa- 
tion I  established  the  commercial  house  of  George 
MacFarlane  &  Co.,  at  10  Corn  Hill.  My  partner,  who 
really  was  only  a  clerk,  was  a  young  Englishman 
named  Cunningham,  for  whom  I  had  been  able  to  do 
a  good  turn  while  I  was  living  in  Chicago.  I  opened 
an  account  in  the  London  &  Westminster  Bank  with 
an  initial  deposit  of  close  to  seventy-five  thousand 
pounds,  which  gave  me  a  financial  standing. 

In  order  to  establish  my  respectability  with  the 
British  Board  of  Trade,  which  exercised  a  watchful 
eye  and  general  supervision  over  the  enforcement  of 

[54] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

the  maritime  laws,  and  to  build  up  a  reputation  for 
eminent  business  respectability  which  would  serve 
as  a  cover  for  the  illicit  but  much  more  exciting 
operations  in  which  I  expected  to  engage  as  soon  as 
opportunity  offered,  and  at  the  same  time  to  throw 
me  naturally  in  contact  with  shipping  concerns  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions,  I  bought  several  small 
vessels  and  began  shipping  general  cargoes  to  and 
from  the  Continent,  either  on  my  own  account  or  for 
others.  Fate  was  kind  to  me  in  throwing  in  my  way 
the  little  steamer  "Leckwith,"  which  I  bought  at  a 
bargain.  She  had  been  built  as  a  yacht  for  a  noble- 
man but  did  not  suit  him.  She  was  not  large  enough 
to  be  used  as  a  passenger  boat  and  her  depth  of  hold 
was  not  sufficient  to  make  her  profitable  as  a  freighter, 
but  she  was  exactly  the  ship  I  wanted  as  a  carrier  of 
contraband.  She  registered  five  hundred  and  twenty 
tons  and  could  do  seventeen  knots  when  she  was 
pushed.  She  was  small  enough  to  go  anywhere,  fast 
enough  to  beat  anything  that  was  likely  to  chase 
her,  and  big  enough  for  my  purposes.  Until  the  day 
I  buried  her,  years  afterward,  as  the  only  means  of 
destroying  damning  evidence,  she  served  me  faith- 
fully and  well,  and  I  doubt  if  any  ship,  before  or 
since,  has  made  so  much  money  for  her  owner. 
One  of  the  first  shipping  firms  with  which  I  became 
[55] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

acquainted  was  that  of  H.  Nickell  &  Son,  of  Leaden- 
hall  Street.  They  were  speculators  as  well  as  mer- 
chants and  I  cultivated  them,  without  having  to  wait 
long  for  results.  Encouraged  by  the  insurrection 
against  the  Bourbons,  which  had  resulted  in  the  abdi- 
cation and  flight  to  France  of  Queen  Isabella,  Don 
Carlos,  the  Spanish  Pretender,  was  just  then,  in  1869, 
preparing  to  make  his  last  fight  for  the  long  coveted 
crown  of  Spain.  His  chief  agent  had  bought  all  of 
the  arms  and  ammunition  he  could  pay  for  from 
Kynoch  &  Co.,  of  Birmingham,  which  establishment 
is  now,  I  believe,  owned  by  Joseph  Chamberlain  and 
his  son  and  brother,  though  conducted  under  the  old 
name,  and  had  contracted  with  Nickell  &  Son  for 
their  delivery  on  the  northern  coast  of  Spain.  They 
had  lost  one  cargo,  through  the  watchfulness  of  a 
Spanish  warship,  and  had  nearly  come  to  grief  with 
another,  just  before  I  became  acquainted  with  them. 

The  Pretender's  agent  then  proposed  that  Don  Car- 
los pay  for  the  arms  when  they  were  delivered,  instead 
of  at  the  factory,  as  before,  and  suggested  to  Nickell 
&  Son  that  they  enter  into  a  contract  on  that  basis, 
to  cover  all  future  purchases. 

Old  man  Nickell  was  considering  this  proposition 
when  I  met  him  and,  suspecting  that  I  had  ideas 
regarding  the  sailing  of  ships  that  went  beyond  the 

[56] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

uninteresting  routine  of  strictly  legitimate  commerce, 
he  told  me  about  it,  after  we  had  come  to  know  and 
understand  each  other  a  bit.  Naturally,  it  appealed 
to  me  and  it  did  not  take  us  long  to  reach  an  agree- 
ment which,  if  it  would  not  have  blocked  our  plans 
and  we  had  wanted  to  follow  the  foolish  English 
fashion,  would  have  enabled  us  to  advertise  ourselves 
as  "Purveyors  Extraordinary  of  Munitions  of  War 
to  His  Royal  Majesty,  Don  Carlos."  It  was  agreed 
that  Nickell  should  buy  the  arms  while  I  should  fur- 
nish the  ship  and  deliver  them.  We  were  to  charge 
a  price  commensurate  with  the  risk  we  assumed,  with 
something  added,  —  for  we  had  reason  to  believe  the 
Pretender  had  plenty  of  money,  —  and  divide  the 
proceeds. 

It  was  stipulated  that  the  first  consignment  should 
be  delivered  to  Don  Carlos  himself  at  his  headquarters 
near  Bilbao,  and  before  accepting  the  cargo  I  went 
there  on  an  iron-ore  steamer  to  reconnoitre.  I  found 
that  the  Pretender's  retreat  in  the  mountains  back 
from  Bilbao  was  in  the  very  heart  of  that  section  of 
Spain  which  was  most  loyal  to  him.  Carlist  sentiment 
was  almost  unanimous  in  the  Provinces  of  Vizcaya, 
Alava,  and  Guipuzcoa,  and  strong  in  the  adjoining 
Provinces  of  Navarre,  Catalonia,  and  Aragon,  so 
there  was  nothing  to  fear  once  we  succeeded  in  get- 

[57] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ting  up  the  river.  Even  the  city  of  Bilbao  was  largely 
composed  of  Carlist  supporters,  but  the  forts  which 
commanded  the  river  there  and  at  Portugalete,  the 
deep-water  port  of  Bilbao  on  the  coast  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  were  manned  by  unfriendly  troops.  The 
two  Generals,  Prim  and  Serrano,  who  were  the  real 
rulers  of  Spain  and  who  placed  Prince  Amadeo,  son 
of  the  King  of  Italy,  on  the  throne  a  year  or  so  later, 
were  as  much  opposed  to  the  Carlists  as  they  had 
been  to  the  Bourbons.  They  did  not  propose  that  the 
Pretender  should  gain  any  ground  during  the  troubled 
period  which  they  had  brought  about  by  the  expul- 
sion of  Queen  Isabella.  They  knew  he  was  trying 
to  import  arms  from  England  and  they  had  so  many 
warships  patrolling  the  northern  coast  that  it  prac- 
tically amounted  to  a  blockade;  but,  after  my  experi- 
ence at  Charleston,  I  did  not  regard  that  as  a 
serious  matter. 

Only  a  small  and  light-draft  ship  could  get  up  the 
river  to  the  point  at  which  the  arms  were  to  be  deliv- 
ered, which  was  a  few  miles  above  Bilbao.  I  did  not 
care  to  try  it  with  the  "  Leckwith "  so  I  chartered  a 
smaller  steamer  which  greatly  resembled  the  "  Santa 
Marta,"  a  Spanish  coastwise  ship.  To  avoid  sus- 
picion as  to  their  real  destination  the  rifles  and  car- 
tridges, in  boxes  which  gave  no  indication  of  their 

[58] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

contents,  were  shipped  to  Antwerp,  and  I  picked  them 
up  there.  As  soon  as  we  were  out  of  sight  of  land  I 
repainted  my  ship  and  made  some  slight  changes  in 
her  upper  works,  until  she  looked  almost  exactly  like 
the  "  Santa  Marta."  That  name  was  then  painted  on 
her  bows  and  the  Spanish  flag  was  hoisted  over  her. 
With  this  precaution  I  figured  that  we  would  avoid 
any  trouble  with  the  forts  or  any  warships  we  might 
encounter,  and  we  did;  in  fact  we  did  not  see  a 
single  warship.  Of  course,  if  we  had  happened  to 
meet  the  real  "  Santa  Marta,"  we  would  have  had  to 
run  for  it  at  least,  and  it  might  have  been  more 
serious  than  that,  but  I  simply  took  a  chance  that 
we  would  not  run  into  her.  We  saluted  the  forts  as 
we  passed  them  and  they  responded  without  taking 
two  looks  at  us. 

We  got  over  the  bar  at  Bilbao  with  very  little  to 
spare  under  our  keel  and  went  on  up  the  river  to  the 
appointed  place,  where  we  tied  up  so  close  to  the 
steep  bank  that  we  threw  a  plank  ashore.  A  band  of 
gypsies  —  Gitanos  —  were  camped  close  by,  and  in  ten 
minutes  they  were  all  over  the  ship.  Among  them 
was  a  singularly  beautiful  girl  to  whom  I  was 
drawn.  She  followed  me  around  the  ship,  which  did 
not  annoy  me  at  all,  and  insisted  on  telling  my  for- 
tune. When  I  consented  she  told  me,  among  a  lot  of 

[59] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

other  things,  that  I  would  be  paid  a  large  sum  of 
money  in  the  mountains,  and  assassinated.  Her  dire 
prediction  did  not  cause  me  a  moment's  anxiety,  as 
I  have  no  faith  in  human  ability  to  discern  what  the 
inhuman  Fates  have  prescribed  for  us,  but  she  was 
greatly  worried  by  what  the  cards  had  told  her  and 
begged  me,  almost  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  to  stay 
away  from  the  mountains.  As  I  then  had  no  thought 
of  going  into  the  hills  I  assured  her  that  I  would  do 
as  she  advised,  whereat  she  was  much  relieved. 

No  messenger  from  Don  Carlos  came  down  to  meet 
us,  as  had  been  agreed  upon,  and  after  waiting  three 
or  four  days  I  sent  one  of  the  gypsies  to  his  camp 
to  advise  him  that  the  cargo  awaited  his  orders,  and 
the  payment  for  it.  He  replied  that  he  would  send 
for  it  and  that  I  should  come  to  his  headquarters  for 
the  money,  as  he  wished  to  consult  with  me  about 
further  shipments.  He  sent  along  one  of  his  aides  to 
escort  me  to  his  camp.  The  Gitano  girl's  warning 
had  made  so  little  impression  on  me  that  I  did  not 
recall  it.  It  seemed  natural  enough  that  Don  Carlos 
should  want  more  arms,  as  we  had  expected  he  would, 
and  that  he  should  want  to  give  personal  directions 
as  to  where  and  when  they  were  to  be  delivered,  and 
without  any  thought  of  danger  I  set  forth  at  once. 
George  Brown,  my  sailing  master,  a  gigantic  Nova 

[60] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

Scotian,  and  Bill  Heather,  the  second  officer,  accom- 
panied me,  as  they  wished  to  see  the  country  and, 
perhaps,  the  famous  Pretender. 

The  Carlist  camp  was  located  well  up  in  the  moun- 
tains, nearly  twelve  miles  from  where  we  were  tied 
up.  Following  the  aide,  we  walked  diagonally  away 
from  the  river  for  about  six  miles,  which  brought  us 
to  the  foothills.  Then  we  switched  off  to  the  left  for 
a  mile  and  turned  sharply  to  the  right  into  a  canyon, 
which  we  followed  for  three  miles  or  more  when  it 
turned  to  the  right  again,  and  a  two-mile  tramp 
landed  us  at  the  headquarters  of  the  claimant  to  the 
Spanish  crown.  The  camp  stretched  away  through 
the  woods  that  covered  the  plateau  to  which  we  had 
climbed  but  we  had  no  opportunity  to  inspect  it,  nor 
to  form  any  intelligent  idea  as  to  the  number  of 
troops,  for  right  at  the  head  of  the  canyon  was  a 
large  square  tent,  surmounted  with  a  flag  bearing  the 
Carlist  arms,  which  we  rightly  guessed  was  occupied 
by  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

We  were  halted  there  and  after  a  short  wait  I  was 
ceremoniously  ushered  into  the  august  presence  of 
the  Pretender.  He  was  standing  as  I  entered,  for 
impressive  effect  rather  than  from  courtesy,  and  I 
am  compelled  to  admit  that  in  personal  appearance 
he  had  a  great  advantage  over  any  real  King  I  have 

[61] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ever  seen.  Perhaps  forty  years  old,  he  was  in  the  full 
glory  of  physical  manhood;  six  feet  tall,  powerfully 
built,  and  unmistakably  a  Spaniard.  He  had  a  full 
beard  and  moustache  as  black  as  his  hair,  large  dark 
eyes,  a  Grecian  nose,  and  a  broad  high  forehead 
which  suggested  a  higher  degree  of  intellectuality 
than  he  possessed.  But  his  cold  face  was  cruel  and 
unscrupulous  and  I  felt  —  what  I  afterward  found 
was  fact  —  that  his  adherents  followed  him  chiefly 
from  principle  and  were  dominated  much  more  by 
fear  than  by  personal  loyalty.  Yet,  despite  a  face  for- 
bidding to  any  keen  student  of  human  nature,  he  was 
an  imposing  figure,  with  evidences  of  royalty  that 
were  exaggerated  by  his  manner.  He  greeted  me  with 
frigid  formality  in  contradiction  of  the  warm  wel- 
come I  had  expected,  as  due  a  saviour  of  the  Carlist 
cause,  and  his  first  words,  spoken  in  fair  English, 
were  a  curt  statement  that  he  had  no  money  but 
would  pay  for  my  cargo  through  his  London  agent 
within  two  months. 

Chagrined  at  the  manner  of  my  reception  and  sur- 
prised at  his  attitude,  I  inquired,  with  some  heat: 
"  How  is  it  possible,  Your  Majesty,  that  you  are  not 
prepared  to  carry  out  the  agreement  made  with  your 
agent  who  was  acting,  as  he  convinced  us,  with  your 
full  authority  ?  Our  contract  stipulates  that  my  cargo 

[62] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

is  to  be  paid  for  in  cash  and  unless  this  is  complied 
with  I  cannot  deliver  it  and  we  will  be  compelled  to 
accept  no  further  orders  from  you." 

"If  my  agent  made  such  a  contract  as  that,"  he 
retorted  with  assumed  indignation,  "he  did  it  on  his 
own  responsibility  alone  and  I  refuse  to  be  bound  by 
it.  I  have  stated  my  terms.  If  you  do  not  care  to 
accede  to  them  you  can  go  to  the  devil." 

It  was  plain  that  I  would  make  no  headway  in  that 
direction  so  I  went  about  on  the  other  tack,  using 
honeyed  words  in  place  of  harsh  ones. 

"I  beg  Your  Majesty's  pardon,"  I  said  with  much 
deference,  "for  momentarily  losing  my  temper.  It 
was  due  to  the  heat  and  the  long  tramp.  I  am  not 
accustomed  to  such  enervating  exercise.  I  see  now 
that  Your  Majesty  is  joking.  It  could  not  be  other- 
wise, for  the  word  of  a  King  of  Spain  is  sacred." 

The  flattery  went  home,  as  I  supposed,  and  while 
he  repeated  that  he  had  stated  the  exact  situation,  his 
manner  was  more  friendly. 

"  You  carry  the  joke  admirably,  Your  Majesty,"  I 
continued.  "  Had  you  not  been  born  to  rule  you 
would  have  won  fame  as  an  actor.  Your  mock  seri- 
ousness would,  I  fear,  cause  real  seriousness  at 
Madrid  if  General  Prim  knew  of  the  extent  to  which 
you  indulge  your  capacity  for  humor." 

[63] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

When  he  persisted  in  his  assertion  that  he  was  in 
earnest  and  did  not  propose  to  live  up  to  the  contract, 
I  pointed  out  to  him,  as  discreetly  as  possible,  what 
the  result  of  such  a  course  would  be.  "I  can  only 
again  congratulate  you  on  your  art,"  I  said,  "for  it 
would  be  ridiculous  for  me  to  believe  you  speak 
seriously.  Failure  to  keep  the  agreement  made  by 
your  agent  even  though,  as  I  now  believe,  he  acted 
without  explicit  instructions  from  you  [which  I  did 
not  believe  at  all]  would  destroy  your  excellent 
credit,  not  only  with  my  firm  but  with  all  other 
dealers  in  revolutionary  supplies,  and  that,  of  course, 
is  not  to  be  thought  of.  On  the  other  hand,  by  pay- 
ing for  this  cargo,  in  compliance  with  the  contract, 
you  will  establish  your  credit  more  firmly  than  ever, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  be  able  to  make  your 
own  terms  for  further  shipments.  I  know  that  Your 
Majesty  is  not  only  very  honest  but  very  wise." 

This  argument  appeared  to  convince  him  and,  with 
a  smile  as  though  he  really  had  been  only  joking,  he 
summoned  a  venerable  Jew,  evidently  his  treasurer, 
who  looked  like  the  original  of  all  pictures  of  Shy- 
lock,  and,  speaking  so  rapidly  in  Spanish  that  I  could 
hardly  understand  him,  ordered  him  to  pay  me 
twenty-eight  thousand  pounds,  the  amount  called  for 
by  the  manifest.  The  Jew  returned  in  a  few  minutes 

[64] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

with  the  exact  amount,  chiefly  in  Spanish  notes  of 
large  denomination  but  with  enough  gold  to  make 
quite  a  load.  While  I  was  waiting  for  the  money  he 
told  me  he  would  want  thirteen  thousand  more  stands 
of  arms  and  a  million  cartridges,  which  were  to  be 
shipped  in  two  cargoes  at  times  and  places  to  be  in- 
dicated by  his  agent  in  London,  who  would  arrange 
the  terms  of  payment,  under  specific  instructions,  to 
avoid  .any  further  misunderstandings.  I  assured  him 
that  they  would  be  sent  when  and  where  he  wanted 
them.  With  the  transaction  completed  Don  Carlos 
dramatically  waved  me  out. 

The  officer  who  had  piloted  us  to  the  camp  sug- 
gested that  we  could  find  our  way  back  to  the  ship 
without  any  trouble,  as  the  trail  was  clearly  defined, 
and  we  started  back  alone.  Before  we  had  gone 
twenty  steps  Brown  asked  if  I  had  been  paid  in  cash. 
I  pointed  to  my  bulging  pockets  and  told  him  I 
undoubtedly  had.  He  then  confessed  that  he  thought 
we  were  "in  for  it."  Six  cavalrymen,  he  said,  had 
started  down  the  trail  not  long  before  I  left  Don 
Carlos'  tent,  and  from  the  action  attending  their 
movement  he  believed  that  they  had  been  sent  out  to 
waylay  and  rob  and  probably  murder  us  in  the  deep 
canyon  into  which  the  ravine  from  the  camp  turned. 
In  a  flash  I  recalled  the  prediction  of  the  gypsy  girl 

[65] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

and  the  promise  I  had  given  her.  I  laughed  at  myself 
for  the  spasm  of  something  like  fear  that  came  into 
my  mind,  yet  I  was  undeniably  nervous,  for  Brown 
was  not  a  man  to  form  foolish  fancies  or  become 
unduly  alarmed  about  anything.  None  of  us  was 
armed  and  if  Brown's  suspicion  was  correct,  which  I 
was  slow  to  believe,  the  troopers  would  make  short 
work  of  us. 

We  had  turned  a  corner  that  put  us  out  of  sight  of 
the  camp  and  were  walking  slowly  along  discussing, 
with  deep  gravity  on  the  part  of  Brown  and  Heather 
and  a  partly  assumed  mock  seriousness  on  my  part, 
the  possibilities  of  the  situation  and  the  general 
cussedness  of  Spanish  character,  when  I  saw  a  dark 
face  peering  at  us  through  the  underbrush  that 
matted  the  trail  on  both  sides.  I  am  not  sure,  but  I 
think  I  jumped;  anyway,  I  know  I  was  startled.  At 
the  first  glance  the  face  looked  like  nothing  but  one 
of  the  troopers  we  had  been  talking  about  but  in  an 
instant  I  recognized  the  Gitano  girl  who  had  told  my 
fortune  and  begged  me  not  to  go  into  the  mountains. 
She  beckoned  to  us  and  we  answered  her  summons, 
without  any  unseemly  haste,  perhaps,  but  certainly 
without  any  delay.  Uttering  not  a  word  she 
plunged  off  at  right  angles  to  the  trail  into  deep 
woods,  in  which  we  would  have  been  hopelessly  lost 

[66] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

in  ten  minutes,  with  the  three  of  us  following  her  in 
Indian  file.  She  led  us  over  a  hill  and  across  a  wide 
depression  and  then  over  another  much  higher  moun- 
tain. There  was  not  so  much  as  a  suggestion  of  a 
path  and  it  was  hard  going,  yet  none  of  us 
complained.  She  brought  us  out  to  the  trail  at  the 
point  where  we  had  made  our  first  turn  into  the  foot- 
hills. From  there  it  was  a  straight  road  to  the  ship, 
with  open  country  all  around,  so  there  could  be  no 
fear  of  ambuscade  or  attack. 

The  tension  was  relieved  and  the  girl,  with  tears 
in  her  eyes  that  betrayed  her  real  emotions,  threw 
her  arms  around  my  neck  and  reproached  me  pas- 
sionately for  violating  my  promise  to  her  and 
exposing  myself  to  what  she  said  would  have  been 
certain  death  but  for  her  intervention.  It  was  with 
difficulty  that  I  released  myself  from  her  embrace, 
while  Brown  and  Heather  discreetly  and  rapidly 
walked  on  ahead  of  us.  She  said  she  heard  where  I 
had  gone  when  she  went  to  the  ship  in  the  morning 
to  see  me,  and  knowing  what  the  plot  would  be,  she 
had  taken  the  short-cut  through  the  mountains,  by 
which  we  had  returned,  to  intercept  us  as  we  were 
leaving  the  camp.  The  gypsies  were  loyal  to  the 
Carlists  through  fear  of  them  so  she  could  get  no  help 
from  her  own  people,  but  she  had  prevailed  on  her 

[67] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

brother  to  steal  up  the  trail  through  the  canyon  to 
see  what  happened  there,  not  to  verify  her  suspicions, 
as  she  explained,  but  to  prove  to  us  that  she  was 
right.  An  hour  after  we  reached  the  ship  her  brother 
returned  and  reported  to  her  that  six  cavalrymen  had 
come  down  the  ravine  from  the  camp  and  concealed 
themselves  alongside  the  trail  in  the  canyon  just 
below  the  turn.  After  a  long  wait  one  of  them  gal- 
loped back  toward  the  camp.  He  soon  returned, 
after  discovering  that  we  had  left  the  trail,  and  the 
others  went  back  to  camp  with  him.  To  Brown  and 
Heather  that  seemed  convincing  proof  of  what  would 
have  happened  to  us  but  for  the  gypsy  girl;  my  own 
notion  about  it  was  that  what  had  happened  had  to 
happen,  and  I  had  not  been  killed  simply  because  my 
time  had  not  arrived.  Therefore  I  felt  nothing  of 
gratitude ;  but  when  I  came  to  analyze  my  real  feel- 
ing toward  the  young  woman,  whose  wondrous  black 
eyes  seemed  to  reflect  all  of  the  mystery  and  witchery 
of  those  glorious  ages  that  died  with  the  departure  of 
the  Moors,  and  were  silently  eloquent  of  a  fine  civili- 
zation of  old  centuries,  I  found  that  the  deep  im- 
pression her  physical  charms  had  made  on  me  had 
been  intensified  by  her  mad  affection  for  me.  This 
made  it  no  easy  matter  to  leave  her,  but  I  had  no 
notion  of  taking  her  with  me,  and  had  to  get  bluff 

[68] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

Bill  Heather  to  half  carry  her  ashore  just  before  the 
gang  plank  was  pulled  in. 

Most  of  the  arms  had  been  removed  from  the  ship 
while  we  were  away  and  turned  over  to  the  guard 
Don  Carlos  had  sent  down.  The  rest  of  the  cargo 
was  jerked  out  with  all  speed  and  as  soon  as  the  last 
box  was  on  the  bank  we  got  under  way.  We  had  not 
gone  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  moving  slowly  on  account  of 
the  tortuous  channel,  when  the  gypsies  came  running 
after  us,  shouting  and  waving  at  us  to  come  back. 
The  cause  of  their  excitement  was  soon  discovered 
in  the  presence  of  my  Gitano  girl,  who  had  stolen  on 
board  at  the  last  minute,  while  I  was  below  inspecting 
the  engines,  and  concealed  herself  until  we  were  under 
way. 

My  first  impulse  was  to  stop  the  ship  and  set  her 
ashore  but  before  I  could  give  the  order  she  came  run- 
ning to  me  and  declared,  with  an  imperious  air  of 
authority:  "I  am  going  with  you,  so  pay  no  atten- 
tion to  my  foolish  people." 

"But,  my  dear  girl,  you  cannot  do  that,"  I  pro- 
tested. "  I  shall  be  accused  of  having  stolen  you." 

"You  cannot  steal  what  belongs  to  you,"  was  her 
quick  reply. 

"  But  I  am  going  to  a  strange  land  where  there  are 

[691 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

none  of  your  people  and  where  your  language  is  a 
strange  tongue.  You  will  be  lonely  and  die." 

"  I  never  shall  be  lonely  where  you  are,"  she 
exclaimed  with  all  the  passion  of  her  romantic  soul, 
"  and  I  shall  not  die  unless  they  kill  me  here.  If  you 
go  on  I  go  with  you;  if  I  go  ashore  you  go  with 
me." 

Never  before  having  encountered  such  affection  I 
was  content  to  let  her  have  her  way.  Her  tribesmen 
followed  us,  and  called  down  all  manner  of  curious 
curses  on  our  heads,  until  they  were  convinced  we 
had  no  thought  of  stopping,  when  two  of  them  gal- 
loped on  ahead  of  us  toward  Bilbao.  They  went  to 
the  fort,  evidently,  and  told  the  officer  in  command 
that  we  were  aiding  Don  Carlos,  for  as  soon  as  we 
got  within  hailing  distance  we  were  ordered  to  heave 
to.  We  paid  no  attention  to  the  command,  of  course, 
and  as  the  only  effect  of  a  warning  gun  which  fol- 
lowed was  to  increase  our  speed,  they  sent  half  a 
dozen  shots  at  us,  as  a  matter  of  duty.  One  of  them 
shattered  the  fore-topmast  and  brought  the  fore- 
rigging  down  by  the  run ;  the  others  went  wild.  We 
were  fired  at  from  a  height  and  dropping  shots  sel- 
dom hit,  though  when  they  do  they  are  generally 
disastrous.  With  everything  dragging  forward,  until 
the  gear  could  be  cleared  away,  we  proceeded  down 

[70] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

the  widening  river  at  full  speed.  Greatly  to  my  sur- 
prise we  were  not  even  hailed  by  the  fort  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  where  I  had  looked  for  some  serious 
business,  and  we  continued  happily  on  our  way  to 
London. 

Soon  after  our  arrival  there  I  established  the 
Gitano  girl,  to  whom  I  had  become  deeply  attached, 
in  a  cottage  near  Chalk  Farm,  not  far  from  the  city. 
I  left  her  amply  supplied  with  money  and  there  were 
other  gypsies  near  there  with  whom  she  could  fra- 
ternize. It  is  an  evidence  of  the  strange  way  in  which 
my  life  has  been  ordered  that  I  never  saw  her  again. 
When  I  returned,  at  the  first  opportunity,  in  about 
two  years,  I  found  nothing  but  a  pile  of  blackened 
ruins  where  the  cottage  had  stood.  The  Gitano  girl's 
beauty  had  made  her  known  to  the  people  who  lived 
near  by  but  they  had  not  seen  her  for  more  than  a 
year,  and  the  neighboring  gypsies  had  moved  away,  no 
one  knew  where.  I  am  not  much  given  to  regrets, 
being  content  to  let  my  destiny  work  itself  out  free 
from  senseless  protests,  yet  if  my  wishes  had  been  con- 
sulted I  would  not  have  lost  my  glorious  Gitano  girl. 
Possibly  the  ruined  cottage  symbolized  a  love  that 
had  burned  itself  out  or  it  may  be  that  somewhere 
her  spirit  is  waiting  for  mine.  "  Why?"  and  "When?" 
are  questions  that  I  never  attempt  to  answer. 

[71] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

That  experience  finished  me  with  Don  Carlos. 
Seven  or  eight  years  later,  when  I  was  selling  arms 
to  Montenegro  and  Turkey,  and  not  long  after  he 
had  finally  been  driven  out  of  Spain,  I  met  him  at 
Claridge's  Hotel  in  London,  as  he  came  in  from 
attending  church  at  the  Greek  Chapel.  He  recog- 
nized me  and,  after  pausing  for  a  second,  offered  me 
his  hand,  but  I  refused  it. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  he  demanded  angrily. 

"I  mean,  Your  Royal  Highness,"  I  replied,  with 
some  sarcasm,  "  that  if  I  am  here  to  shake  hands  with 
you  it  is  through  no  good  will  of  yours,  for  you  tried 
to  have  me  assassinated  in  your  mountains."  He 
looked  at  me  hard  for  a  moment,  shrugged  his  shoul- 
ders, and  walked  on. 

After  settling  up  with  Nickell  on  the  Don  Carlos 
expedition  I  devoted  myself,  for  a  few  months,  to 
legitimate  commerce.  I  had  bachelor  quarters  on 
Russell  Square,  in  London,  and  divided  my  time 
between  that  city  and  Paris,  where  I  opened  a  branch 
of  my  mercantile  and  shipping  house  at  30  Rue 
Vivienne.  While  in  Paris  I  lived  at  the  Grand  Hotel 
and  loafed  at  Charley  Wells'  American  restaurant 
nearby  on  the  Rue  Scribe.  In  both  London  and  Paris 
I  read  and  heard  considerable  about  a  picturesque 
South  American  named  Guzman  Blanco.  He  had 

[72] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

been  driven  out  of  Venezuela,  of  which  country  he 
was  Vice-President,  and  was  said  to  be  then  planning 
a  revolt  through  which  he  expected  to  gain  the  presi- 
dency. I  was  anxious  to  meet  him  but  was  unable 
to  do  so,  as  both  of  us  were  moving  about  a  great 
deal.  I  had  thought  of  Venezuela  before  I  visited 
Europe  and,  attracted  by  the  promised  revolt,  I 
decided  that  I  would  go  to  that  country  as  soon  as 
the  Franco-Prussian  War,  which  then  was  almost 
ready  to  break  out,  was  over,  or  before  that  if  it  lasted 
longer  than  I  thought  it  would.  Just  before  the  war 
began  I  bought  three  cargoes  of  wines  at  Bordeaux 
and  sent  them  to  London,  where  I  sold  them  later 
at  a  good  profit. 

During  the  brief  war,  which  began  on  July  19, 
1870,  and  ended  in  the  capitulation  of  the  French  at 
Sedan  on  September  first,  I  had  three  ships  busy  with 
honest  cargoes,  but  I  did  not  get  a  chance  to  do  any 
contraband  running  until  just  before  its  close.  The 
Austrian  Army  was  then  being  rearmed  with  the  im- 
proved Werndle  rifle,  and  thousands  of  the  old  guns 
were  stored  in  the  arsenal  at  Vienna. 

Nickell  had  bought  a  lot  of  them  at  a  bargain  but 
on  account  of  the  war  Austria  would  not  release  them 
without  a  guarantee  that  they  were  not  to  be  used 
against  Germany.  I  was  led  to  believe  I  could  sell 

[73] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

five  thousand  of  these  rifles  to  the  Committee  of 
Safety  at  Bordeaux  ;  so  I  bought  that  number  from 
Nickell  and,  with  an  order  for  their  delivery,  I  went 
to  Trieste  in  the  "Leckwith."  Charles  Lever,  the 
novelist,  was  then  the  British  consul  at  Trieste, 
where  he  died  a  year  or  two  later.  On  the  pretence 
that  the  arms  were  for  Japan,  and  that  I  would  be 
able  to  establish  that  fact  within  a  few  days,  I  secured 
the  removal  of  the  guns  from  Vienna  to  the  Trieste 
arsenal,  which  was  only  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the 
dock  at  which  the  "  Leckwith "  was  tied  up.  How- 
ever, to  get  them  over  that  short  distance  and  then 
to  get  away  with  them  was  a  problem  that  puzzled 
me.  I  was  mulling  over  it  one  day  in  a  cafe  when 
a  maudlin  young  Englishman,  who  was  sitting  at  the 
table  with  me  and  had  been  trying  to  talk  to  me, 
pulled  out  a  passport,  all  plastered  with  red  seals  and 
wax  in  the  old  Continental  fashion.  It  was  a  most 
formidable  and  ceremonious  looking  document  artd 
the  instant  I  saw  it  an  inspiration  seized  me.  From 
the  most  taciturn  I  became  the  most  jovial  of  com- 
panions and  plied  the  Englishman  with  wine  until 
he  fell  sound  asleep. 

Then  I  took  the  passport  from  his  pocket  and 
hustled  off  to  the  arsenal.  I  had  been  assiduously 
cultivating  the  officers  there  and  was  delighted  to 

[74] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

find  the  young  lieutenant  with  whom  I  was  best 
acquainted  in  charge  of  the  guard.  I  told  him  I  would 
have  the  order  for  the  release  of  the  rifles  within  an 
hour  and  proceeded  to  celebrate  by  getting  him  in 
the  same  state  in  which  I  had  found  the  convenient 
Englishman.  I  sent  word  to  Lorensen,  sailing  master 
of  the  "  Leckwith,"  to  get  up  a  full  head  of  steam,  and 
engaged  a  dozen  big  wagons  to  be  at  the  arsenal  in 
an  hour.  I  arrived  with  the  wagons,  waved  the  gaudy 
passport  in  front  of  the  young  officer's  face,  and  with- 
out trying  to  read  it  he  told  me  to  go  ahead.  We 
made  quick  work  of  getting  the  boxed  arms  to  the 
ship  and  under  her  hatches,  for  the  guard  was  changed 
at  four  o'clock  and  my  sleepy  young  friend  would  be 
succeeded  by  an  officer  who  was  sober  and  in  his 
right  mind.  We  were  not  quite  fast  enough,  how- 
ever, for  just  as  we  were  pulling  out  the  new  officer 
of  the  guard  came  running  down  the  dock,  shouting 
that  he  wanted  to  see  the  order  for  the  release  of  the 
arms.  As  he  was  well  out  of  arm's-reach  I  made  a 
fussy  effort  to  hand  him  the  passport.  Then  I  opened 
it  out  and  showed  it  to  him,  all  the  while  explaining 
that  it  was  all  right. 

He  went  away  shaking  his  head  and  I  anticipated 
trouble  at  the  fort  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor,  at 
the  head  of  the  Adriatic,  as  the  channel  through  which 

[75] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

we  had  to  run  was  narrow.  The  fort  occupied  a 
commanding  position  and  had  high  walls  from  the 
water's  edge,  with  a  free  bastion  high  up.  Sure 
enough,  a  shot  whizzed  across  our  bows  as  we  reached 
the  fort.  Immediately  I  swung  the  ship  in  and 
before  they  saw  I  was  not  going  to  come  to  anchor, 
as  they  had  supposed,  we  were  so  close  under  the 
walls  that  they  could  not  bring  their  guns  to  bear  on 
us.  It  was  only  a  very  few  minutes,  however,  until 
they  could  reach  us  with  their  seaward  guns,  and  they 
let  go  at  us  without  any  delay.  The  second  shot  took 
a  bite  out  of  the  mainmast  and  it  looked  as  though 
they  had  found  our  range  and  would  smash  us  in  a 
jiffy;  but  the  brave  little  ship  was  tearing  through 
the  water  at  her  top  speed  and,  as  we  were  going 
directly  away  from  them,  was  hard  to  hit.  Shells 
splashed  uncomfortably  close  to  us  for  a  few  min- 
utes, but  save  for  one  shot  that  carried  away  some  of 
the  ginger-bread  work  on  the  stern  we  were  not 
struck  again,  and  were  soon  out  of  reach  of  any- 
thing like  accurate  fire.  The  "  Leckwith  "  had  stood 
her  first  baptism  of  fire  in  a  way  that  augured  well 
for  her  future,  and  the  sign  was  a  good  one. 

The  arms  were  rushed  to  Bordeaux  and  turned 
over  to  the  Committee  of  Safety  only  a  few  days 
before  the  battle  of  Sedan.  I  was  sufficiently  enthu- 

[76] 


IN  LEAGUE  WITH  SPANISH  PRETENDER 

siastic  in  the  cause  of  France  to  land  them  without  a 
proper  guarantee  of  payment,  and,  in  fact,  they  never 
were  paid  for.  Everything  was  turmoil;  so  after 
waiting  a  few  days  I  placed  the  bill  for  the  arms  with 
an  attorney  and  hurried  on  to  London,  en  route  for 
Venezuela,  where  I  expected  to  find  more  excitement, 
in  which  hope  I  was  in  no  way  disappointed.  I 
placed  the  "  Leckwith  "  and  my  ships  in  the  hands  of 
Nickell  &  Co.,  for  charter,  and  took  the  first  steamer 
for  New  York. 


[77] 


CHAPTER   IV 
LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

HE  first  word  that  reached  me  on  my  arrival  in 
New  York  near  the  end  of  September,  1870, 
was  that  my  wife  was  seriously  ill  at  her  old  home  in 
Illinois.  She  had  been  on  the  Continent  with  rela- 
tives of  old  man  Nickell,  the  ship  broker  and  contra- 
band dealer,  during  most  of  the  time  that  I  was 
messing  around  with  Don  Carlos  and  the  French, 
and  started  home  two  months  ahead  of  me.  She  had 
a  very  bad  trip,  her  ship  having  been  twenty-six  days 
at  sea,  and  as  she  was  not  a  good  sailor  she  suffered 
severely  and  contracted  an  illness  which  proved  fatal. 
I  went  to  her  at  once  and  remained  at  her  side  until 
the  end,  three  weeks  later.  Her  death  was  a  severe 
blow  to  me.  She  was  an  exceptional  woman,  in  that 
she  had  much  good  sense,  was  not  given  to  chatter, 
and  was  a  delightful  companion.  Though  she  had 
never  become  quite  reconciled  to  my  adventurously 
active  life,  I  was  devoted  to  her,  and  if  she  had  lived  I 
might  eventually  have  settled  down  and  become  a  re- 
spectable and  self-respecting  business  man,  in  which 

[78] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

class,  I  am  bound  to  say,  I  would  have  had  little 
company. 

When  I  returned  to  New  York  after  the  funeral  I 
was  greatly  depressed  and  was  in  a  mood  for  any- 
thing that  offered  excitement.  A  few  days  later  I 
found  some  diversion  through  a  chance  meeting  with 
Frank  (Francis  Lay)  Norton,  just  after  he  had  gone 
broke  in  John  Morrissey's  uptown  gambling  house. 
He  knew  me,  by  reputation  and  through  the  old 
Cuban  Junta  under  which  both  of  us  had  operated,  as 
well  as  I  knew  him,  and  we  soon  became  friends. 
Later  we  became  partners  in  some  of  the  most  glori- 
ously exciting  exploits  in  which  I  have  been  fortunate 
enough  to  participate.  Norton  was  a  natural-born 
pirate,  and  he  looked  the  part.  He  was  then  about 
forty  years  old,  five  feet,  eight  inches  tall,  thin  and 
wiry  and  possessed  of  remarkable  strength.  His 
eyes,  hair,  beard,  and  moustache  were  as  black  as  coal. 
You  could  feel  his  eyes  looking  through  you  and 
would  almost  lose  a  realizing  sense  of  what  was 
in  your  mind;  it  was  not  hypnotism  nor  mental  or 
physical  dominance  but  he  could  almost  read  your 
most  secret  thoughts.  He  was  completely  irreligious, 
cynical,  and  cold-blooded.  Under  the  most  severe 
tests  a  slight  twitching  of  the  eyes  was  his  only  sign 
of  excitement.  He  was  daring  to  the  supreme  degree 

[79] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

but  never  foolishly  reckless,  and  I  don't  believe  he 
ever  experienced  the  sensation  of  fear.  He  was,  too, 
as  he  needed  to  be,  almost  a  dead  shot  in  off-hand 
firing  with  rifle  or  pistol,  and  an  expert  swordsman. 
When  I  first  met  him  he  was  wild  about  the  China 
Sea,  where  he  had  spent  several  thrilling  years  and 
made  several  fortunes,  only  to  lose  them  as  soon  as 
he  could  find  a  gambling  house,  for  he  was  a  faro 
fiend  of  the  most  virulent  type.  He  declared  that  was 
the  only  part  of  the  world  for  us,  with  regard  both 
to  excitement  and  money,  and  suggested  that  we  form 
a  partnership  and  go  out  there  "to  do  anything  that 
came  handy."  Though  I  had  spent  money  like  the 
proverbial  drunken  sailor,  or  worse,  for  I  was  born 
with  all  the  tastes  of  an  aristocrat,  I  was  then  worth 
several  hundred  thousand  dollars,  while  Norton  was 
worth  nothing,  so  I  could  not  quite  see  a  partnership 
such  as  he  had  in  mind.  Nor  was  he  able  to  tempt 
me  away  from  Venezuela.  I  had  heard  so  much  of 
that  country  and  of  Guzman  Blanco  that  my  heart 
was  set  on  going  there  before  I  undertook  to  explore 
any  other  strange  lands.  The  upshot  of  our  many 
discussions  was  that  I  sent  Norton  to  London  to  take 
command  of  the  "Leckwith"  until  I  was  ready  to 
join  him,  when  it  was  agreed  we  should  go  out  in  the 
yacht  to  his  beloved  China  Sea.  I  had  brought  Lars 

[80] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

Lorensen,  the  former  sailing  master  of  the  "  Leck- 
with  "  and  a  brave  and  loyal  Norseman,  with  me  from 
the  other  side,  as  I  expected  to  have  need  of  him  in 
South  America. 

After  Norton's  departure  I  bought  the  fore  and  aft 
schooner  yacht  "Juliette,"  about  eighty  tons,  fitted 
her  out  at  New  London,  Connecticut,  for  a  six 
months'  cruise,  and  with  Lorensen  as  sailing  master, 
started  for  Bermuda  to  test  her  seaworthiness.  We 
reached  there  in  five  days  and  proceeded  to  St. 
Thomas,  where  I  hoped  to  find  Guzman  Blanco.  He 
was  not  there  so  we  went  on  to  Curacoa,  which  was 
then,  as  it  has  been  ever  since,  a  revolutionary 
rendezvous.  We  arrived  there  in  the  latter  part  of 
December.  I  found  that  Guzman  was  there,  and 
James  Faxon,  the  American  consul,  introduced  me  to 
him  at  the  Willemstad  Club,  where  he  was  playing 
billiards  with  Gen.  Pulgar,  his  chief-of-staff.  Before 
meeting  him  I  had  familiarized  myself  with  recent 
Venezuelan  history,  as  far  as  it  concerned  him.  I 
learned  that  Guzman  Blanco's  father,  Dr.  Antonio 
Guzman,  began  political  life  as  private  secretary  to 
Simon  Bolivar,  the  famous  "  Liberator,"  and  had  been 
prominent  in  Venezuelan  politics  for  fifty  years.  He 
aided  in  the  election  of  Jose  Tadeo  Monagas  to  the 
presidency  and  at  his  request  his  son,  Guzman  Blanco, 

[81] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

was  appointed  Secretary  of  Legation  at  Washington, 
where  he  lived  during  1856  and  1857.  ^n  the  latter 
year  Dr.  Guzman  had  a  row  with  Monagas  and  was 
expelled  from  the  country.  He  went  to  St.  Thomas 
and  was  soon  joined  by  his  son.  There  they  met  Gen. 
Falcon,  who  too  had  been  banished  by  Monagas  and 
was  planning  a  revolt.  When  Falcon  invaded  Vene- 
zuela in  1859,  in  what  became  known  as  the  "Five 
Years'  War,"  Guzman  Blanco  went  with  him.  In  a 
succession  of  brilliant  victories  young  Guzman 
demonstrated  his  great  bravery  and  military  genius 
and  he  soon  was  at  the  head  of  a  division,  later  be- 
coming second  in  command.  Falcon  entered  Caracas 
in  triumph  in  April,  1863,  after  devastating  most  of 
the  country,  and  was  elected  President,  with  Guzman 
Blanco  as  Vice-President.  In  addition  to  this  title 
Guzman  was  made  Minister  of  Finance  and  of  For- 
eign Relations,  and  in  1864,  and  again  in  1867,  he 
went  to  Europe  to  settle  the  national  debt  and 
arrange  a  new  loan.  While  he  was  away  the  second 
time  the  old  Monagas  faction  came  back  to  life  with 
enough  strength  to  force  Falcon  to  abandon  Caracas, 
and  when  Guzman  returned  from  London  in  1868  a 
mob  surrounded  his  house  and  stoned  it.  He  fled  to 
Europe.  He  had  just  returned  and  was  planning  an 
invasion  of  Venezuela  when  I  met  him. 

[82] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

I  told  him  of  my  efforts  the  year  before  to  meet 
him  in  London  and  Paris  and  their  purpose;  that  I 
was  running  contraband,  more  to  satisfy  my  love  of 
adventure  than  as  a  business,  and  I  believed  I  could 
be  useful  to  him ;  that  South  America  was  prolific  of 
revolutions  and  I  was  ambitious  to  have  a  hand  in 
them.  After  he  had  studied  me,  asked  all  sorts  of 
questions,  and  apparently  satisfied  himself  that  I 
could  be  relied  on,  Guzman  told  me,  in  a  general  way, 
of  his  plans  and  asked  me  to  secure  for  him  three 
thousand  old  Remington  rifles  and  five  hundred 
thousand  cartridges  and  deliver  them  as  quickly  as 
possible  at  Curacoa.  We  sailed  for  New  York  the 
day  after  the  order  was  given,  early  in  January,  and 
made  the  trip  in  just  a  month.  I  bought  the  arms 
from  P.  D.  Orvis  &  Co.,  of  Whitehall  Street,  and  we 
were  on  our  way  back  within  a  week.  We  made  the 
return  trip  in  twenty-eight  days  and  reached  Curacoa 
just  before  the  sunset  gun  was  fired.  The  entrance  to 
the  harbor  at  Curacoa  is  very  narrow  and  in  those 
days  it  was,  and  I  believe  still  is,  closed  during  the 
night  by  a  great  chain,  which  was  raised  at  sunset 
and  lowered  at  sunrise  by  a  powerful  windlass. 

I  went  ashore  at  once  and  to  the  club  where,  in- 
stead of  Guzman  Blanco,  whom  I  expected  would  be 
waiting  for  me,  I  found  Gen.  Ortega,  who  was  with 

[83] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

Guzman  when  I  first  met  him  and  seemed  to  be  fully 
in  his  confidence.  Ortega  handed  me  a  note,  bearing 
what  purported  to  be  the  signature  of  Guzman,  which 
directed  me  to  deliver  the  cargo  at  a  place  to  be  indi- 
cated by  Ortega,  and  stated  that  payment  for  it  would 
be  made  on  rny  cabin  table.  As  I  was  not  familiar 
with  Guzman's  writing  I  showed  the  signature  to 
Dr.  Leon  and  to  old  man  Jesurun,  who  owned  the 
shipyard,  who  knew  Guzman  well,  and  both  of  them 
pronounced  it  genuine.  I  had  no  suspicion  that  any- 
thing was  wrong  and  took  this  precaution  simply  as 
a  matter  of  ordinary  business  sense.  Ortega  directed 
me  to  deliver  the  cargo  at  Tucacas  Point,  a  little 
peninsula  about  one  hundred  miles  west  of  La  Guaira, 
and  said  we  must  put  to  sea  that  night,  as  Guzman 
was  anxiously  awaiting  the  arms.  Through  excep- 
tional representations  of  some  sort  to  the  com- 
mandante  he  secured  the  lowering  of  the  chain,  and 
we  left  at  once,  arriving  off  the  point  the  next 
evening. 

Ortega  went  ashore  and  returned  with  a  request 
that  I  order  off  the  hatches  and  start  the  unloading 
of  the  cargo  in  my  boats  and  then  go  ashore  with 
him  and  get  my  money.  This  was  not  in  accord  with 
my  contract  with  Guzman  or  with  the  note  Ortega 
had  handed  me,  but,  though  I  was  reminded  of  my 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

experiences  with  Don  Carlos,  I  had  great  confidence 
in  Guzman  and  did  not  wish  to  offend  him,  so  I  read- 
ily consented  to  the  amended  arrangement.  As  soon 
as  the  unloading  was  well  under  way  I  went  ashore 
with  Ortega.  We  climbed  the  bluff  and  walked  half  a 
mile  inland  to  a  mud-thatched  hut  before  which  a 
sentry  was  pacing.  Ortega  gave  the  countersign  and 
we  stepped  inside,  to  find  Gen.  Pulgar,  who  was  chief- 
of-staff  for  Guzman  when  I  was  introduced  to  him  at 
the  Willemstad  Club,  wrapped  in  a  chinchora  and 
smoking  in  a  hammock.  After  shaking  hands  with 
him  I  asked  where  Guzman  was.  He  replied 
evasively  that  he  was  there  instead  of  Guzman.  I 
told  him  briefly  about  my  trip,  in  response  to  his 
queries,  and  then  asked  him  for  my  money,  which 
Ortega  had  said  was  waiting  for  me.  Pulgar  smiled 
and  straightened  up. 

"  I  told  Ortega  to  deliver  that  message  to  you," 
he  said,  "but  there  is  no  use  mincing  words  and  I 
may  as  well  tell  you  that  you  are  my  prisoner.  Your 
cargo  is  being  taken  care  of  and  will  be  put  to  a  very 
different  purpose  from  that  which  you  expected.  As 
I  have  said,  you  are  my  prisoner  but  I  have  an  offer 
to  make  you  which,  if  you  accept  it,  will  be  to  your 
advantage.  Guzman  is  not  an  old  friend  of  yours  and 
if  you  make  a  profit  on  your  arms  it  can't  make  much 

[85] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

difference  to  you  whether  you  serve  him  or  me.  If 
you  will  join  my  forces,  of  your  own  free  will,  I  will 
make  you  a  colonel  and  give  you  command  of  a  bat- 
talion and  when  the  revolution  is  over  I  will  pay  you 
for  your  rifles,  just  as  Guzman  agreed  to  do." 

"You  seem  to  forget,"  I  replied,  "that  I  have  a 
contract  with  Gen.  Guzman  which,  as  an  honorable 
man,  I  can't  go  back  on." 

"Well,  you  don't  appear  to  be  in  a  very  good  posi- 
tion just  now  to  carry  it  out,  do  you  ?  "  he  asked. 

I  again  inquired  where  Guzman  was  but  a  shrug  of 
the  shoulders  was  the  only  answer  I  could  get  to 
questions  along  that  line.  Not  knowing  as  much 
about  Venezuelan  revolutions  then  as  I  did  later  I 
could  not  fathom  this  strange  situation  to  my  entire 
satisfaction,  but  it  was  my  guess  that  in  some  way 
Pulgar  had  become  arrayed  against  Guzman,  and  it 
turned  out  that  I  was  right. 

I  told  Pulgar  that  I  would  give  him  an  answer  at 
gunfire,  in  the  morning,  and  spent  the  night  with 
Ortega,  under  guard.  I  tried  to  draw  him  out  but, 
evidently  according  to  orders,  he  would  not  even  talk 
about  the  weather. 

At  sunrise  we  went  to  see  Pulgar.  When  asked 
for  my  decision  I  inquired  what  the  result  would  be 
if  his  revolution  failed. 

[86] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

"Then  I  am  sorry,  my  dear  Captain,  but  you  will 
lose  your  cargo,  while  I  will  lose  my  life,  which  is  of 
infinitely  more  importance  to  me.  But  the  revolution 
will  not  fail,"  he  vehemently  declared. 

As  though  impressed  by  his  confidence  in  himself, 
I  announced  that  I  would  take  a  chance  with  him  and 
accept  his  offer,  with  a  mental  reservation  to  escape 
at  the  first  opportunity,  for  I  did  not  propose  to  fight 
against  Guzman,  and  that,  I  was  convinced,  was  what 
it  amounted  to. 

"That  is  excellent,"  he  said,  with  the  suggestion 
of  a  bow.  After  coffee  I  went  with  him  to  inspect  his 
troops.  He  had  about  three  thousand  men,  many  of 
whom  were  already  armed  with  the  rifles  I  had 
brought  in,  and  they  were  strung  across  the  narrow 
arm  of  the  peninsula  in  a  line  almost  as  ragged  as 
their  clothes.  I  was  formally  given  command  of  a 
battalion  of  three  hundred  men,  and  an  Indian  serv- 
ant, —  I  afterward  found  he  had  orders  to  shoot  me  if 
I  attempted  to  escape,  —  was  assigned  to  me.  I  ac- 
companied Pulgar  back  to  his  headquarters,  where  I 
was  given  an  old  sword  and  the  tarnished  shoulder 
straps  of  a  colonel,  these  constituting  my  uniform. 

"Now  that  you  have  allied  yourself  with  my 
forces,"  he  then  said,  "  you  will  have  no  use  for  your 
ship,  for  the  present  at  least.  She  is  still  lying  in  the 

[87] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

bay  and  if  she  remains  there  she  is  likely  to  be  cap- 
tured or  cause  trouble.  You  will  therefore  write  a 
note  to  the  officer  in  charge  of  her  directing  him  to 
proceed  to  Curacoa  and  await  orders.  She  will  be 
safe  there  and,"  with  a  quizzical  smile,  "you  will  be 
safe  here.  We  have  no  boats  but  we  will  signal  your 
ship  from  the  beach  that  we  have  word  for  it." 

I  had  been  expecting  this  command  and,  as  there 
was  nothing  else  for  me  to  do,  I  complied  with  it  at 
once.  It  was  cutting  off  my  only  hope  of  rescue, 
though  a  forlorn  one  as  I  was  forced  to  admit,  but  the 
adventure  which  the  situation  promised  to  develop 
was  getting  into  my  blood  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  I 
rather  liked  the  idea  of  being  left  to  my  own  resources 
amid  such  strange  surroundings.  Pulgar  had  told 
me  during  the  inspection  of  his  camp  that  we  would 
probably  soon  be  in  action,  as  "some"  troops  were 
advancing  on  him,  and  if  they  did  not  attack  him 
before  he  was  ready  to  march,  he  would  go  out  to 
meet  them.  He  preferred  that  they  should  bring  the 
fight  to  him  for  all  of  his  men  were  recruited  from  that 
section  and  knew  every  foot  of  the  country.  When  I 
came  to  know  Venezuela  I  appreciated  that  Pulgar 
required  no  great  prestige  to  gain  a  considerable  fol- 
lowing in  that  part  of  the  country,  for  it  was  a  veri- 
table hotbed  of  revolution,  ranking  with  Maturin  in 

[88] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

the  east  and  Barquisimeto  in  the  southwest,  —  three 
kegs  of  powder  that  could  be  set  off  by  almost  any 
man  who  had  two  legs  and  a  sword. 

I  started  in  to  drill  my  troops  with  the  idea  of  mak- 
ing them  a  really  effective  fighting  force,  but  it  was 
the  most  difficult  task  I  had  ever  undertaken.  They 
were  lazy  to  a  degree  that  passes  the  understanding 
of  an  Anglo-Saxon  and  they  had  not  the  slightest 
desire  to  learn  even  the  first  principles  of  the  science 
of  war,  as  it  is  understood  outside  of  South  America. 
I  had  been  trying  to  whip  them,  and  others,  into  some 
sort  of  shape  for  about  a  week  when  word  was 
brought  in  one  morning  that  the  enemy  was  approach- 
ing. We  had  no  advance  guard  out,  though  I  had 
tried  to  induce  Pulgar  to  post  one,  and  a  few  minutes 
after  the  scouts  had  been  driven  in  the  action  became 
general,  with  the  forces  apparently  about  evenly 
matched  in  numbers.  Instead  of  allowing  me  to  lead 
my  battalion,  Pulgar  ordered  me  to  remain  with  him 
on  a  little  knoll  in  the  rear,  from  which  he  made  a 
pretence  of  directing  his  forces.  He  could  have  ac- 
complished much  more  in  front,  for  what  his  men 
needed  was  a  leader,  not  a  director.  They  were  fight- 
ing in  Indian  fashion,  with  every  man  shooting 
indiscriminately  from  behind  a  tree  or  log,  and  they 
paid  no  attention  to  commands.  I  will  say  for  them, 

[89] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

though,  that  they  fought  hard  and  stubbornly,  but 
they  were  gradually  driven  back,  and  Pulgar,  who  had 
a  terrible  temper,  was  furious.  All  at  once  the  oppos- 
ing troops  were  largely  reinforced  and  came  with  a 
rush  which  quickly  converted  our  orderly  retreat  into 
a  rout.  Pulgar,  cursing  like  a  madman,  dashed  madly 
into  the  disorganized  mass  of  his  liberty-loving  louts, 
with  Ortega  and  the  rest  of  his  staff  at  his  heels. 

I  was  left  alone  and  was  hesitating  as  to  what  I 
should  do  when  my  Indian  servant  tugged  at  my 
trousers  leg.  "  Follow  me,  Colonel,"  he  said,  "  I  know 
where  there  is  a  boat."  He  started  off  at  the  run 
and  covered  ground  so  fast  that  I  had  to  gallop  my 
horse  to  keep  up  with  him.  He  led  the  way  to  the 
beach  near  where  my  cargo  had  been  landed  and 
pushed  a  native  boat  from  under  a  clump  of  mangrove 
trees.  We  jumped  in  and  shoved  off  in  a  hurry,  for 
Ortega  and  several  of  his  men  had  just  appeared  on 
the  bluff  above  us  and  were  making  for  us.  There 
were  no  oars  in  the  boat  but  we  pulled  a  board  loose 
from  the  bottom  and  used  it  as  a  paddle.  A  strong 
current  from  the  east  swept  us  clear  of  the  peninsula 
and  out  to  sea;  but  I  was  not  alarmed,  for  I  figured 
that  we  would  soon  be  in  the  path  of  coasting  vessels. 
Scattered  rifle  patter  reached  us  for  a  long  time,  indi- 
cating that  my  former  comrades-in-arms  were  being 

[90] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

ignominiously  chased  around  in  a  way  that  must  have 
been  most  discouraging  to  Pulgar.  Toward  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon,  as  we  were  trying  to  work 
in  toward  the  land,  the  Indian  let  our  paddle  get  away 
from  him,  which  left  us  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
elements,  and  I  suspected  that  we  might  have  fared 
better  if  we  had  stayed  on  shore. 

We  drifted  around  for  three  days  and  nights  with- 
out so  much  as  a  glimpse  of  a  distant  sail,  and  with- 
out an  ounce  of  food  or  a  mouthful  of  water,  save 
only  such  as  we  were  able  to  suck  out  of  our  clothes 
during  and  after  a  providential  rain  that  fell  on  the 
second  night.  On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  a 
fog  lifted  and  close  to  us  was  a  fleet  of  fishermen 
from  the  island  of  Oruba,  twenty  miles  to  the  west- 
ward of  Curacoa.  They  took  us  to  their  island  and 
after  we  had  rested  and  eaten  for  two  days  a  fishing 
boat  took  us  to  Curacoa.  There  I  learned  from 
Consul  Faxon  what  had  happened  in  Venezuela. 
Guzman's  plans  had  worked  out  more  rapidly  than 
he  anticipated  when  he  sent  me  to  New  York  for 
arms,  and  he  landed  in  Venezuela  early  in  February 
at  the  head  of  a  small  force  but  with  a  large  army 
waiting  for  him.  The  old  Liberals  flocked  to  his 
standard  and  with  only  slight  resistance  he  entered 
Caracas  and  proclaimed  himself  Dictator.  His  victory 

[91] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

was  so  easily  achieved  and  was  so  largely  a  personal 
one  that  he  did  not  give  to  Pulgar  the  reward  to 
which  that  general  considered  himself  entitled,  and  the 
latter  immediately  started  a  new  revolution. 

When  I  told  Faxon  the  manner  in  which  I  had 
been  imposed  on  and  how  I  had  been  impressed  into 
Pulgar's  service,  he  advised  me  to  go  to  Caracas  at 
once  and  tell  President  Guzman  the  whole  story. 
Though  somewhat  dubious  as  to  the  result,  because 
of  the  fear  that  Guzman  would  be  skeptical,  and  per- 
haps brutal,  I  followed  his  advice  and  went  on  the 
next  steamer.  The  same  ship  carried  a  letter  to  Guz- 
man from  Faxon  in  which  he  told  him  of  my  experi- 
ences and  of  the  precautions  I  had  taken  to  verify  the 
signature  to  the  order  Ortega  had  given  me  on  my 
arrival  with  the  arms.  From  the  effect  which  this 
letter  produced  I  judge  that  Faxon  also  said  some 
very  complimentary  things  about  me,  but  I  never  had 
an  opportunity  to  thank  him,  for  he  died  before  I  was 
in  Curacoa  again. 

I  called  on  Guzman  after  I  knew  he  had  received 
Faxon's  letter,  and  was  welcomed  with  marked  cor- 
diality. "Tell  me  your  whole  story,"  he  said,  "but 
let  me  assure  you,  it  is  believed  before  it  is  told." 
His  face  took  on  an  ugly  look  when  I  told  him  how 
Ortega  had  tricked  me  with  the  forged  order  and  he 

[92] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

interrupted  me  to  say  that  he  had  sent  an  officer  to 
Curacoa  to  await  the  "Juliette"  and  direct  me  to 
deliver  the  arms  at  La  Guaira.  This  officer's  failure 
to  get  to  me  in  advance  of  Ortega  had  not  been  satis- 
factorily explained  and  had,  Guzman  said,  been 
severely  punished.  It  was  evident  that  he  suspected 
collusion  between  his  agent  and  Ortega. 

When  I  had  finished  Guzman  told  me  he  was  sur- 
rounded by  men  whom  he  either  suspected  or 
hesitated  to  trust.  He  wanted  a  man  whom  he  could 
rely  on  implicitly  to  watch  for  evidences  of  treachery 
among  those  around  him,  and  he  was  kind  enough  to 
say  he  thought  me  the  man  for  whom  he  had  been 
looking.  He  asked  me  to  remain  in  Caracas  for  an  in- 
definite time,  to  mix  freely  with  his  entourage  and 
become  intimately  acquainted  with  them  and  ascer- 
tain who  could  be  trusted  and  who  were  doubtful.  I 
could  pose  as  an  American  who  was  studying  the 
country  with  the  idea  of  making  investments,  which 
would  explain  my  interest  in  things  and  my  desire  to 
cultivate  the  members  of  his  court.  I  spoke  Spanish 
well  and  could  also  converse  easily  enough  in  French, 
though  that  language  was  little  used  except  among 
the  diplomats. 

I  accepted  his  invitation  gladly  and  a  part  of  the 
time  that  I  was  in  Caracas  I  spent  at  the  Yellow 

[93] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

House,  the  residence  of  the  President,  as  his  guest. 
Guzman  was  the  handsomest  man  I  have  ever  known ; 
tall  and  as  straight  as  a  sword,  with  long  black  beard 
and  dark  eyes,  sharp  as  needles,  that  could  flash  fire 
or  friendship.  He  was  magnetic  and  winning  to  the 
last  degree  and  every  inch  a  ruler  of  men,  without 
the  faintest  notion  as  to  what  fear  meant.  During 
the  nearly  twenty  years  that  he  was  absolute  ruler 
of  Venezuela  his  temper  was  the  thing  most  dreaded 
through  all  the  land.  I  have  seen  grizzled  generals, 
descended  from  the  best  families  of  old  Spain,  turn 
almost  white  at  the  sign  of  his  anger. 

Himself  a  pure  Castiliano,  he  regarded  the  native 
Venezuelanos  as  a  vastly  inferior  race,  thereby  fur- 
nishing another  illustration  of  his  good  judgment, 
and  there  was  much  of  contempt  in  his  attitude 
toward  them.  Many  times,  when  they  had  incurred 
his  displeasure  by  a  display  of  cowardice  or  some 
other  fault,  I  have  heard  him  abuse  a  quailing  crowd 
of  the  highest  officers  in  the  Venezuelan  Army  in  lan- 
guage much  more  vigorous  and  profane  than  an 
American  policeman  would  use  to  a  gang  of  hood- 
lums. "  You  are  not  worth  a  damn,"  he  would  always 
tell  them  in  conclusion,  "except  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  foreign  blood  that  is  in  you."  Yet  until 
the  day  when  he  was  treacherously  overthrown,  to 

[94] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

the  great  loss  of  Venezuela,  no  criticism  of  his  was 
ever  resented  nor  was  there  ever  a  whisper  of  pro- 
test. The  people  knew  their  master. 

One  of  the  first  whom  Guzman  asked  me  closely  to 
observe  was  a  young  Indian  officer  named  Joachim 
Crespo,  an  aide  attached  to  his  household.  I  reported 
that  he  could  be  implicitly  trusted,  and  knowledge  of 
that  fact  helped  me  out  of  a  scrape  years  later,  when 
Crespo  was  President  of  Venezuela. 

Not  more  than  ten  days  after  my  arrival  in  Caracas 
Guzman  asked  me  to  be  in  his  private  sala  at  ten 
o'clock  the  next  morning,  to  meet  an  old  friend.  At 
the  appointed  hour  the  Governor  of  the  Casa  Publica 
came  in,  with  a  few  officers,  escorting  none  other  than 
Gen.  Vicento  Pulgar,  who  had  put  to  his  service  my 
cargo  of  arms.  Pulgar  was  in  full  uniform  and  bore 
himself  like  a  hero.  His  manner  was  almost  contemp- 
tuous and  his  expression  was  one  of  amused  curiosity 
rather  than  fear. 

Guzman  made  him  a  courtly  bow  and  extended  his 
hand,  which  Pulgar  reluctantly  accepted. 

"  This  is  an  unexpected  pleasure,"  Guzman  said. 

"  I  dare  say  it  is  to  you,  General,  but  here  I  am,  at 
your  service." 

"  I  hope  you  are  here  as  a  friend." 
[95] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

"Whatever  General  Guzman  desires  must  neces- 
sarily be  accepted  as  an  accomplished  fact." 

Guzman  turned  to  the  Governor  and  asked  him  the 
occasion  for  the  call.  The  Governor  replied  that  they 
had  brought  General  Pulgar  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 

"Prisoner!"  exclaimed  Guzman  with  profound 
astonishment.  "My  friend  General  Pulgar  a  pris- 
oner! If  that  is  the  purpose  of  your  visit  you  may 
retire." 

After  the  officers  had  departed  Guzman  turned  to 
Pulgar  with  a  more  serious  air.  "  You  will  be  my 
guest  in  Caracas  until  such  time  as  I  need  you  else- 
where," he  said.  "  I  will  be  pleased  to  receive  a  call 
from  you  every  day." 

Pulgar  bowed;  no  other  parole  was  necessary. 

That  was  Guzman's  way  of  doing  things  and  it  was 
well  understood,  especially  by  men  of  intellect  like 
Pulgar.  No  firmer  hand  than  Guzman's  ever  ruled 
but  it  was  ordinarily  encased  in  a  velvet  glove.  His 
bare  hand,  which  was  displayed  only  when  extreme 
conditions  demanded,  was  a  sign  of  terror. 

As  Pulgar  was  leaving  he  stopped  and  congrat- 
ulated me  on  my  safe  trip  to  Caracas.  I  thanked 
him,  with  the  same  politeness.  Neither  of  us  alluded 
to  his  seizure  of  my  arms  or  to  my  enforced  service 

[96] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

with  him.  Pulgar  and  I  subsequently  became  good 
friends. 

I  congratulated  Guzman  on  his  diplomacy  and  his 
shrewd  effort  to  turn  a  powerful  enemy  into  a  useful 
friend,  though  I  doubted  if  he  would  succeed. 

"If  I  and  my  good  adviser,  Captain  Boynton,  can- 
not pull  the  claws  of  the  General,  we  will  have  to  take 
the  consequences,"  he  said.  From  that  I  understood 
that  I  was  to  keep  close  watch  of  Pulgar  and  report 
daily,  which  I  did.  Everything  that  I  saw  and  heard 
indicated  that  Guzman's  diplomacy  would  fail. 
Pulgar  told  his  friends  openly  that  while  Guzman 
seemed  very  friendly  he  was  not  deceived  and  would 
kill  him  at  the  first  opportunity.  "Well,  he'll  have 
plenty  of  opportunity,"  said  Guzman  with  a  laugh 
when  I  reported  this  to  him. 

There  was  a  reception  at  the  Yellow  House  a  few 
nights  later.  Pulgar  was  invited  and  was  present. 
Guzman  soon  found  an  opportunity  to  engage  him  in 
conversation.  "I  have  already  found  that  being 
President  of  Venezuela  has  its  objectionable  fea- 
tures," sighed  Guzman  after  they  had  chatted 
lightly  for  a  few  minutes.  "  One  has  to  listen 
to  so  many  ridiculous  tales.  For  instance,  I  have 
heard  many  foolish  stories  about  you,  one  of  them 

[97] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

being  an  alleged  threat  to  kill  me  the  first  time  you 
have  a  chance." 

"I  don't  know  about  the  others,  but  I  did  say 
that,"  replied  Pulgar. 

Guzman  shrugged  his  shoulders,  as  though  wearied. 
"  How  often,"  he  responded,  "  we  say  we  are  going  to 
do  things  which  we  may  think  we  will  do  but  which 
we  never  do  do." 

"When  I  get  an  opportunity  that  a  gentleman 
can  take  advantage  of,  I  intend  to  kill  you,  General 
Guzman,"  said  Pulgar,  still  smiling. 

"Let  that  be  the  understanding  then,"  answered 
Guzman  as  he  walked  away,  without  displaying  the 
slightest  concern. 

The  very  next  day  Guzman  sent  Pulgar  an  invita- 
tion to  come  to  the  palace  at  three  o'clock  and  go 
driving  with  him.  Contrary  to  his  custom  he  ordered 
that  no  guards  accompany  them.  They  had  not  gone 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  when  one  of  the  front  wheels 
came  off  and  both  of  them  were  thrown  out  in  a 
heap.  As  they  disentangled  themselves  Pulgar  drew 
a  revolver  but  it  was  not  well  out  of  his  pocket  before 
Guzman  had  him  covered  with  his  pistol. 

"  Ah,  you  were  prepared  for  me,  I  see,  General," 
said  Pulgar. 

[98] 


LAWLESS  LATIN  AMERICA 

"I  am  always  prepared  for  friends  and  enemies 
alike,"  replied  Guzman. 

They  put  up  their  weapons  and  walked  back  to  the 
palace. 

"I  am  sorry  our  ride  was  so  short,"  said  Guzman. 

"  It  was  long  enough,"  was  Pulgar's  reply,  "to  con- 
vert an  enemy  into  a  friend." 

"In  that  case  it  has  been  truly  delightful,"  re- 
sponded Guzman.  They  shook  hands  and  that  was 
the  end  of  the  Pulgar  revolution. 

Peace  palled  on  Pulgar  and  he  died  not  long  after- 
ward. As  was  his  right  he  had  the  largest  funeral 
ever  seen  in  Venezuela.  Without  exception  he  was 
the  bravest  man  I  have  ever  known.  He  had  all  of 
Frank  Norton's  daring  and  added  to  it  what  seemed 
to  be  a  foolhardy  recklessness  that  times  without 
number  carried  him  right  up  against  old  Graybeard's 
scythe,  yet  he  always  knew  the  chances  he  was  taking 
and  coolly  calculated  them.  When  he  was  stripped 
he  looked  as  though  he  had  been  run  through  a 
threshing  machine.  From  head  to  foot  he  was  cov- 
ered with  scars  left  by  knives,  swords,  and  bullets  of 
all  sizes.  In  an  assault  on  the  fortress  at  Porto 
Cabello,  years  before  I  knew  him,  he  climbed  into  an 
embrasure  and  over  the  mouth  of  a  cannon  just  as  it 
was  fired.  Had  he  been  a  second  later  he  would  have 

[99] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

been  blown  to  pieces.  The  explosion  burned  nearly 
all  the  flesh  off  his  legs  and  reduced  them  to  pipe- 
stems.  He  was  a  tall,  handsome  man  of  pure  Cas- 
tilian  blood;  a  revolutionist  by  birth,  breeding, 
education,  and  occupation,  and  his  one  ambition  was 
to  be  President  of  Venezuela.  I  doubt  if  that  country 
will  ever  produce  another  just  like  him. 

It  was  known  that  Guzman  favored  the  introduc- 
tion of  foreign  capital  to  develop  the  wonderful 
resources  of  Venezuela,  the  full  extent  of  which  is 
not  even  yet  understood,  and  Caracas  was  soon  over- 
run with  concession  hunters.  Many  of  them  sought 
my  support  and  offered  me  all  sorts  of  inducements, 
but  I  told  all  of  them  that  I  had  no  influence  with 
Guzman  and  would  not  use  it  if  I  had,  in  such  ways 
as  they  desired.  I  always  advised  Guzman  fully  as  to 
whom  the  concession  hunters  were  and  what  they 
wanted.  One  of  those  on  whom  I  thus  reported  was 
Cyrenius  Fitzgerald,  an  American  civil  engineer,  who 
sought  a  concession  covering  the  delta  of  the  Orinoco 
and  a  considerable  distance  up  the  river,  which  sec- 
tion then  was  an  unknown  land.  Guzman  wanted  a 
report  on  it  and  asked  me  to  visit  it,  which  I  did,  in 
company  with  Fitzgerald  and  an  English  engineer 
named  Tucker,  who  was  there  making  a  survey  for 
the  railroad  which  subsequently  was  built  between 

[100] 


Caracas  and  La  Guaira.  We  made  the  trip  on  the 
old  government  boat  "Bolivar,"  being  away  two 
months  and  going  up  the  Orinoco  as  far  as  Ciudad 
Bolivar.  We  went  over  much  of  the  territory  in- 
cluded in  the  proposed  concession  and  explored  many 
uncharted  passages  in  the  delta  of  the  river  which 
had  long  been  safe  havens  for  revolutionists  and 
smugglers.  I  became  enchanted  with  the  country, 
which  was  rich  in  minerals  and  valuable  woods.  In 
reporting  to  Guzman  and  talking  with  him  about  the 
project,  I  found  that  he  was  to  receive  a  large  block 
of  stock  in  the  enterprise.  This  concession  finally 
was  granted  by  Guzman  in  1883,  without  any  solici- 
tation from  me,  and  thirteen  years  later  it  was 
decreed  by  fate  that  I  should  become  manager  of  the 
property  for  the  Orinoco  Company,  Limited,  which 
is  now  known  as  the  Orinoco  Corporation. 


[101] 


CHAPTER   V 
THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 

T  HAD  been  with  Guzman  Blanco  for  about  a  year 
•*•  after  he  proclaimed  himself  Dictator  of  Venezuela, 
on  February  14,  1871,  when  I  began  to  grow  restless 
again.  This  was  in  no  sense  due  to  any  fault  I  had 
to  find  with  Guzman.  He  had  treated  me  with  every 
mark  of  friendship  and  had  proved,  time  and  again, 
that  I  possessed  his  entire  confidence.  He  had  paid 
me  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  cargo  of  arms  which 
Pulgar  secured  through  Ortega's  forgery  and  had 
been  liberal  in  other  financial  matters,  though  I  would 
not  accept  any  direct  payment  for  my  confidential 
services,  as  I  considered  myself,  in  a  sense,  his  guest. 
But,  under  the  strong  hand  of  Guzman,  things  were 
settling  down  to  a  humdrum,  and  I  rebelled  against 
peace  and  order  and  fretted  under  the  restraint  of  the 
land.  At  sea  I  could  go  where  I  pleased,  when  I 
pleased,  and  do  what  I  pleased;  on  shore,  except  for 
the  Yellow  House  and  the  evening  social  events,  all 
of  which  were  alike,  my  time  was  largely  divided 
between  Madam  Santa  Amand's  hotel  in  Caracas  and 
the  old  Posada  Neptuno  in  La  Guaira,  and  my  move- 

[102] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 


ments  were  circumscribed  by  the  part  I  was  playing. 
Then,  too,  revolutions  were  popping  in  Central  Amer- 
ica, according  to  the  reports  that  reached  Caracas, 
and  I  felt  that  I  was  missing  a  lot  of  excitement  and 
some  business.  This  latter  consideration  entered  into 
my  thoughts  not  largely,  and  at  all  only  because  my 
expenses  were  greatly  in  excess  of  the  amounts  I 
received  from  Guzman  in  roundabout  ways.  In  those 
days  and  for  years  afterward,  I  gratified  my  foolishly 
extravagant  tastes  without  any  regard  to  the  cost  of 
things ;  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  I  have  come 
to  understand  that  money  has  a  value. 

With  my  whole  nature  clamoring  for  a  change  to 
more  strenuous  scenes  I  put  the  situation  up  to 
Guzman  and  secured  his  permission  to  go  away,  on 
the  promise  that  I  would  return  within  six  months. 
I  summoned  the  "Juliette"  from  Curacoa  and  set 
sail  for  England,  for  the  double  purpose  of  securing 
a  cargo  of  arms,  with  which  to  add  to  the  joy  of  living 
in  Central  America,  and  looking  up  Frank  Norton, 
who  had  so  well  planted  within  me  the  germ  of  his 
China  Sea  insanity  that  it  was  taking  root.  With 
the  good  little  ship  heeled  over  to  the  steady  trade 
winds  that  fanned  my  dusky  cheek,  lovingly  as  I 
fancied  in  my  enthusiasm,  and  with  the  waters  that 
are  nowhere  else  so  blue  murmuring  a  welcome  back 

[103] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

to  them,  I  was  again  a  rover  of  the  sea  and  my 
exultant  soul  joined  in  the  lyric  chorus  of  the  rigging. 
We  stopped  at  St.  Thomas,  that  haven  of  thieves, 
blacklegs,  and  revolutionists,  and  there  I  met  General 
Baez,  brother  of  Buenaventura  Baez,  President  of 
Santo  Domingo,  and  his  Minister  of  War.  Buena- 
ventura Baez  was  one  of  the  most  interesting 
characters  the  romantic  West  Indies  have  produced. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  rich  mulatto  and  was  born  early 
in  the  last  century.  He  cooperated  with  General 
Santana  in  establishing  the  independence  of  Santo 
Domingo  and  was  President  from  1849  to  1853,  when 
he  was  supplanted  by  Santana,  who  expelled  him 
from  the  island.  Santana  was  deposed  three  years 
later  and  Baez,  who  had  spent  the  interval  in  New 
York,  resumed  the  presidency.  Two  years  later  he 
was  once  more  ousted  by  Santana  and  forced  to  live 
abroad  until  1865,  when  he  again  assumed  the  presi- 
dency. In  1866  General  Pimental  headed  a  successful 
revolt  in  favor  of  General  Cabral,  and  Baez  was  ban- 
ished a  third  time,  going  to  St.  Thomas.  His  star 
was  in  eclipse  only  a  short  while,  however,  for  the 
following  year  he  again  fought  his  way  to  the  presi- 
dential chair.  In  the  latter  part  of  1869  he  signed  two 
treaties  with  President  Grant,  one  for  the  cession  of 
Samana  Bay,  which  probably  is  the  most  beautiful 

[104] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 


harbor  in  the  West  Indies  and  was  wanted  by  our 
Navy  Department  for  years  before  these  treaties  were 
signed  and  for  many  years  afterward,  and  the  other 
for  the  annexation  of  the  whole  island  of  Santo 
Domingo  to  the  United  States.  The  people  of  Santo 
Domingo  approved  both  of  these  conventions  at  an 
election  decreed  by  Baez  in  February,  1870,  and  held 
under  the  guns  of  an  American  warship,  but  the 
United  States  Senate  refused  to  ratify  either  treaty. 
President  Grant  believed  strongly  in  this  annexation, 
wherein  he  showed  his  farsightedness,  and  a  com- 
mission which  he  sent  to  the  island  reported,  in  the 
Spring  of  1871,  in  favor  of  the  treaty;  but  sentiment 
in  the  Senate  was  decidedly  against  it  and  the  meas- 
ure was  not  pressed. 

If  Grant  could  have  lived  until  to-day  he  would  find 
considerable  satisfaction  in  the  protectorate  the 
United  States  has  assumed  over  Santo  Domingo, 
which  really  amounts  to  American  control.  The 
same  course  must  be  taken  with  helpless  Hayti,  and 
it  may  well  be  that  before  these  lines  are  read  the 
administration  of  the  finances  of  the  "  Black  Repub- 
lic "  will  have  been  taken  over  by  American  officers ; 
and  the  American  minister,  acting  under  orders  from 
Washington,  will  be  the  real  ruler  of  the  land,  as  he 
is  in  Santo  Domingo.  Let  me  digress  here  to  express 

[105] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

the  conviction  that  within  ten  years  every  European 
possession  in  the  West  Indies,  with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  Barbadoes,  will  come  under  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  Even  if  economic  conditions  do  not  compel 
this  change,  as  they  would  do  sooner  or  later,  it  will 
be  made  necessary  by  the  completion  of  the  Panama 
Canal.  The  United  States,  though  seldom  given  to 
any  riotous  display  of  good  sense,  is  still  too  wise  a 
nation  to  permit  a  foreign  power  to  have  a  naval  base 
almost  within  gunshot  of  Colon,  from  which  it  could 
strike  a  quick  and  destructive  blow  at  the  inter- 
oceanic  waterway. 

Conditions  are  ripe  for  the  change.  England  has 
made  a  failure  of  governing  her  islands  and,  in  ad- 
vance of  formal  retirement,  has  abandoned  her  great 
naval  station  at  Saint  Lucia,  on  which  millions  of 
pounds  were  spent,  and  withdrawn  her  warships  from 
the  Caribbean.  The  Danish  Islands  are  a  heavy  and 
continuous  drain  on  the  Copenhagen  treasury  that 
cannot  be  maintained  for  many  years  longer,  and 
Washington  years  ago,  through  clear-visioned  John 
Hay,  served  formal  notice  on  Denmark  that  the  sale 
of  these  islands  to  any  nation  except  the  United 
States  would  be  regarded  as  an  unfriendly  act.  It 
was  the  determination  then  to  keep  these  islands 
away  from  the  outstretched  hands  of  Germany,  be- 

[106] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 

cause  of  their  proximity  to  South  America,  and  there 
are  many  more  reasons  now  to  prevent  their  transfer 
to  any  foreign  power.  They  are  so  largely  owned  by 
Americans  that  they  are  practically  American 
colonies  to-day.  The  French  Islands  are  the  most 
prosperous  of  all,  but  only  because  of  a  bounty  on 
sugar  which  the  national  government  is  anxious  to 
drop.  Holland  has  no  reason  for  retaining  her 
islands,  which  are  an  expense  to  which  no  glory 
attaches.  Under  American  ownership  these  beauty 
spots  would  be  restored  to  their  old-time  prosperity 
and  no  one  knows  this  so  well  as  the  islanders  them- 
selves. In  my  judgment  it  is  a  matter  of  only  a  com- 
paratively few  years  until  England,  France,  Denmark, 
and  the  Netherlands  will  enter  into  some  arrange- 
ment, the  details  of  which  I  do  not  attempt  to  pre- 
dict, by  which  all  of  their  Caribbean  islands  will 
be  turned  over  to  the  United  States.  The  only  pos- 
sible exception  is  Barbadoes,  which  England  may 
wish  to  retain  as  a  midway  station  on  her  commercial 
highway  to  South  America,  but  as  that  poverty- 
stricken  islet,  which  has  twice  disappeared  under  the 
sea  and  then  bobbed  up  again,  has  no  port  that  could 
be  defended,  there  might  be  no  objection  to  such  a 
plan.  Cuba  is  certain  to  become  an  American  pos- 
session, for  the  Cubans  are  as  incapable  of  self-gov- 

[107] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ernment  as  are  the  Filipinos,  and  if  Santo  Domingo 
and  Hayti  are  not  recognized  as  children  of  the 
United  States,  they  will  be  its  wards.  The  United 
States,  too,  must  take  a  larger  hand  in  the  affairs  of 
Central  America  and  Venezuela.  The  Monroe  Doc- 
trine cannot  run  on  one  wheel.  At  the  same  time  that 
it  protects  the  Latin-American  countries  from  Euro- 
pean aggression,  it  must  compel  them  to  pay  their 
debts  and  maintain  order.  I  am  glad,  however,  that 
this  theory  did  not  obtain  in  the  old  days,  for  it 
would  have  robbed  me  of  many  exciting  episodes. 

The  defeat  of  Grant's  annexation  project  gave 
Pimental  and  Cabral  an  excuse  for  starting  a  new 
revolution,  and  they  were  beginning  to  show  their 
hand  when  I  ran  into  General  Baez  at  St.  Thomas. 
He  knew  of  my  association  with  Guzman  Blanco  and 
at  once  approached  me  with  a  proposition  to  go  to 
Santo  Domingo  to  aid  his  brother  in  the  troubles 
he  foresaw.  He  also  suggested  that  I  might  under- 
take a  mission  to  America  or  Europe  in  relation  to 
the  readjustment  of  the  debts  of  the  island,  which 
even  then  were  becoming  burdensome  and  a  source 
of  much  anxiety  to  the  party  in  power,  because  of 
the  insistent  belief  of  the  creditors  that  they  were 
entitled  to  their  money  when  it  was  due.  I  told  him  I 
knew  nothing  at  all  about  finances  but  that,  if  I  could 

[108] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 

get  an  extension  of  leave  from  Guzman,  I  would  con- 
sider any  practical  plan  that  promised  excitement. 
He  said  he  would  consult  with  his  brother  and  write 
me  at  Caracas. 

We  went  on  tc  London,  where  I  learned  that  Nor- 
ton was  in  the  Mediterranean  with  the  "Leckwith," 
impatiently  carrying  general  cargoes.  I  left  word  for 
him  with  Nickell  &  Son  that  I  expected  soon  to  be 
ready  to  go  out  East  with  him,  took  on  a  cargo  of  arms 
and  headed  for  Costa  Rica,  where  I  had  information 
that  a  revolution  was  hatching  against  Gen.  Tomaso 
Guardia,  who  had  recently  come  into  power.  For  this 
trip,  I  remember,  I  took  the  name  of  "Captain  John 
F.  Kinnear."  We  had  some  trouble  in  getting  away, 
for  the  British  Government  was  still  dead  set  against 
filibustering,  and  in  the  hope  of  removing  all  sus- 
picion I  gave  our  destination  as  Kingston,  Jamaica, 
though  I  had  no  idea  of  stopping  there.  I  gave  the 
ship  a  new  set  of  papers,  showing  British  registry, 
and  was,  of  course,  flying  the  British  flag. 

We  ran  into  bad  weather  in  the  Caribbean  and  were 
forced,  after  all,  to  put  in  at  Kingston,  leaking  badly. 
The  ship  was  so  opened  up,  in  fact,  that  she  had  to 
be  recalked  and  have  a  few  new  planks,  which 
necessitated  putting  her  in  dry  dock.  The  port  reg- 
ulations stipulated  that  when  a  ship  went  in  dry 

[109] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

dock  a  general  cargo  could  be  left  in  her,  at  the  op- 
tion and  risk  of  the  owner,  but  that  all  explosives  and 
munitions  of  war  must  be  taken  out  and  stored  in  the 
government  arsenal,  or  in  some  place  selected  by  the 
commandant.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  take 
out  our  cargo,  and  five  days  were  consumed  in  loading 
and  repairing  the  ship.  I  had  the  work  hurried  with 
all  possible  speed,  for  the  mail  ship  from  England  was 
due  in  nine  days  after  our  arrival  and  I  was  fearful 
that  she  would  bring  an  order  for  our  detention,  which, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  she  did,  as  I  learned  years  after- 
ward. When  the  repairs  were  completed  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  island  refused  to  allow  us  to  reload  our 
cargo,  as  he  had  an  intimation  that  the  ship  was  not 
what  she  pretended  to  be.  This  hint,  it  developed 
later,  came  from  Jimmy  Donovan,  a  "sea  lawyer" 
whom  I  had  shipped  at  the  last  minute  in  the  hurry 
of  getting  away  from  London.  He  made  what  is 
known  on  the  sea  as  a  "pier-head  jump."  On  the 
fourth  day  I  prevailed  on  the  governor  to  allow  us 
to  take  on  our  cargo,  but  he  insisted  that  the  ship 
must  be  held,  with  both  anchors  down,  until  further 
orders.  I  decided  that  we  would  go  out  that  night 
and  so  informed  Lorensen,  the  sailing  master. 
Knowing  me  even  as  well  as  he  did  he  laughed  in- 
credulously, thinking  I  was  joking,  for  the  channel 

[110] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 

through  the  harbor  was  shaped  like  the  letter  "  S  "  and 
commanded  by  a  fort  which  could,  as  he  said,  blow 
us  out  of  the  water  without  half  trying. 

"Just  the  same,"  I  said,  "we  are  going  to  sea  or 
to  hell  to-night." 

"All  right,  Captain,  but  it  will  be  to  hell,  if  I  am 
any  judge,"  was  the  quiet  reply  of  the  game  Loren- 
sen,  than  whom  a  braver  or  better  seaman  never 
walked  a  deck.  During  the  evening  he  greased  all  of 
the  blocks  so  we  could  start  on  our  problematical 
journey  without  any  noise.  The  moon  went  down  at 
midnight  and  before  it  was  out  of  sight  we  had  one 
anchor  up,  with  a  muffled  capstan.  We  were  get- 
ting up  the  other  when  the  harbor  policeman  came 
along.  A  few  Bank  of  England  notes  blinded  him 
and  we  got  under  way,  with  two  of  the  ship's  boats 
towing  us  and  the  tide  helping  us  along.  Evidently 
the  fort  had  orders  to  look  out  for  us  but  we  caught 
them  napping,  apparently,  for  we  were  almost  past  it 
when  we  were  hailed  and  ordered  to  stop.  In  a  min- 
ute, without  giving  us  a  decent  chance  to  heave  to, 
even  had  we  been  so  inclined,  they  whanged  away  at 
us.  The  second  shot  went  clear  through  us,  just 
below  the  waterway,  and  Lorensen,  who  was  with 
me  at  the  wheel,  exclaimed  grimly,  "  Here  we  go, 
Captain." 

[Ill] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

But  he  was  mistaken,  for  in  the  darkness  their 
gunnery  was  not  up  to  the  standard  of  British 
marksmanship,  for  which  I  have  a  wholesome  respect. 
They  kept  at  it  hard  enough  but  all  of  their  shots 
went  wild,  except  for  one  that  punched  a  hole  in  the 
port  bulwarks  forward,  though  from  the  way  the 
shells  whistled  I  have  no  doubt  our  canvas  would 
have  been  punctured  many  times,  had  it  been  up. 
We  were  soon  under  cover  of  the  Myrtle  Bank  Hotel 
and  after  that  two  ships  protected  us  until  we  were 
far  enough  away  so  that  only  a  chance  shot  could 
reach  us.  When  we  were  well  enough  out  in  the  har- 
bor so  that  we  could  manoeuvre  and  get  the  full  effect 
of  the  light  breeze  that  was  blowing  over  the  salt 
flats,  we  set  all  of  our  sails  and  pulled  away. 

At  daylight  I  had  the  carpenter  at  work  fixing  up 
the  little  damage  the  fort  had  done  us,  and  it  was 
well  that  we  were  quick  about  it  for  during  the  after- 
noon we  met  the  old  warship  "  Bellerephon,"  which 
was  attached  to  that  station,  coming  in  from  a  trip 
around  the  island  ten  days  ahead  of  time.  We  were 
preparing  to  salute  her  when  she  stopped  and  hove 
us  to  with  a  blank  shot.  I  don't  think  I  have  ever 
been  more  surprised,  for  there  was  no  wireless  tele- 
graph in  those  days  and  I  could  not  conceive  how  she 
had  gotten  word  that  we  were  suspected  of  filibus- 

[112] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 

tering.  While  I  was  racking  my  brain  for  some  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  Lorensen  ran  forward,  leaned 
out  over  the  side,  and  came  back  and  reported  that 
there  was  a  blue  shirt  under  the  bobstay.  That 
explained  it,  for  in  those  days  it  was  an  unwritten  law 
in  the  British  Navy  that  when  a  sailor  on  a  merchant 
ship  had  any  pronounced  complaint  to  make,  regard- 
ing either  his  own  treatment  or  general  conditions  on 
the  vessel,  he  would  hang  a  shirt  in  the  chains,  under 
the  bowsprit,  where  it  would  not  be  seen  by  the 
officers  unless  they  were  looking  for  it,  as  a  signal  to 
any  warship  they  met  that  there  was  something 
wrong  on  board.  Whenever  and  wherever  a  war- 
ship saw  a  shirt  fluttering  under  the  bobstay  the  ves- 
sel was  held  up  and  carefully  investigated. 

I  suspected  at  once  that  it  was  Jimmy  Donovan 
who  had  hung  out  the  shirt,  and  I  had  him  bucked 
and  gagged  and  stowed  away  in  the  hold  before  he 
could  have  said  "Jack  Robinson."  Then,  quickly,  I 
made  an  entry  on  the  log  which  showed  that  he  had 
been  left  in  the  hospital  at  Kingston,  with  pernicious 
fever.  By  that  time  the  lieutenant  from  the  "  Beller- 
ephon"  was  alongside.  When  he  came  aboard  I 
assumed  a  look  of  injured  innocence  and  profound 
surprise.  He  ordered  me  to  muster  the  crew  aft  and 
called  for  my  papers.  To  my  great  satisfaction  he 

[113] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

merely  glanced  at  the  certificate  of  registry,  which 
was  forged,  and  centred  his  attention  on  the  crew  list. 
The  men  answered  to  their  names  as  he  called  them 
off.  When  he  came  to  Donovan  I  explained  that 
he  had  been  taken  sick  at  Kingston  and  left  there, 
and  produced  the  log,  which  satisfied  him. 

"  Who  among  you  has  any  complaint  to  make  ? " 
he  asked  of  the  men.  There  was  no  response,  and  he 
repeated  the  question. 

"Don't  be  afraid,"  he  encouraged  them.  "The 
'  Bellerephon '  will  protect  you.  If  you  have  any  com- 
plaint to  make,  step  out  and  make  it.  We  will  see 
that  you  get  fair  play  and,  if  necessary,  take  you  on 
board." 

No  one  moved,  and  after  waiting  some  time  the 
lieutenant  turned  to  me  with  the  remark  that  every- 
thing seemed  to  be  all  right.  I  told  him  I  had  heard 
of  no  complaints  from  any  of  the  men  and  asked  why 
they  had  "stood  us  up." 

"Why,  there  is  a  shirt  out  forward,"  he  explained. 
I  suggested  that  perhaps  some  of  the  crew  had  been 
washing.  Hearing  my  remark  a  quick-witted  fellow 
named  Bill  Johnson,  who  had  shipped  on  my  first 
trip  with  the  "Juliette,"  stepped  out  and  said  he  had 
washed  his  shirt  that  morning  and  hung  it  in  the 
chains  to  dry,  without  knowing  that  it  meant  any- 

[114] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 

thing.  "  I  've  been  a  sailor  for  a  good  many  years  but 
that  is  one  signal  I  never  heard  of  before,"  he  said. 

"Is  that  true,  Bill?"  asked  the  lieutenant  with 
what  seemed  like  just  a  shade  of  suspicion. 

"  It  is,  sir,"  replied  Bill  with  the  steady  gaze  of  an 
honest  man. 

"He  is  a  'True  Bill'  all  right,"  I  told  the  young 
officer  as  I  shot  a  grateful  look  at  the  grizzled  sailor 
that  meant  a  raise  in  wages.  "He  is  the  oldest  man 
on  the  ship  and  one  of  the  best.  That  shirt  signal  is 
a  new  one  on  me,  too,  and  I  thought  I  knew  all  the 
signs  of  the  sea." 

"  Very  good,  sir,"  he  replied.  "  It  is  quite  evidently 
a  mistake." 

He  then  returned  to  the  "  Bellerephon,"  which 
answered  our  salute,  and  we  squared  away  for  Costa 
Rica.  My  mind  was  free  from  any  further  fear  of 
capture,  for  a  stiff  breeze  was  singing  over  our  quar- 
ter, and  I  knew  by  the  time  the  old  warship  could  get 
to  Kingston  and  start  after  us  again  we  would  be  well 
out  of  reach.  As  soon  as  she  was  hull  down  I  mus- 
tered the  crew  aft  and  complimented  Bill  on  his 
ready  wit  and  rewarded  it.  He  was  with  me  for 
years  after  that  and  was  never  known  by  any  other 
name  than  "True  Bill." 

I  then  reminded  the  men  that,  in  accordance  with 
[US] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

my  invariable  rule  when  running  contraband,  I  had 
told  all  of  them  the  exact  nature  of  our  voyage  before 
we  were  out  of  sight  of  land  and  had  offered  to  set 
ashore  any  who  did  not  wish  to  undertake  it,  while 
those  who  stayed  with  me  were  to  receive  double 
pay,  and  a  bonus  out  of  the  profits  in  addition,  in 
consideration  of  the  hazardous  nature  of  the  trip. 

"Therefore,"  I  told  them,  "the  treachery  of  Don- 
ovan has  not  only  endangered  your  extra  pay  and 
bonus  but  also  placed  your  freedom  in  jeopardy.  As 
he  was  one  of  your  number  I  will  turn  him  over  to 
you  for  such  punishment  as  you  think  his  case 
deserves.  I,  of  course,  reserve  the  right  to  review  your 
verdict,  but  I  do  not  believe  you  will  be  too  lenient 
with  him."  The  crew  welcomed  this  announcement 
with  cheers,  which  could  not  be  regarded  as  a  good 
omen  for  the  traitor,  and  a  court-martial  was 
organized,  with  the  "  bos'n  "  at  the  head  of  it. 

Donovan  confessed  when  he  was  brought  before 
the  court,  whereupon  it  was  unanimously  and 
speedily  decided  that  he  should  run  the  gantlet  and 
be  marooned,  which  verdict  I  approved,  for  I  believed 
it  to  be  none  too  severe.  The  crew  prepared  for  the 
first  ceremony  by  knotting  a  lot  of  rope  ends  and 
tarring  them  until  they  were  as  hard  as  iron  but 
flexible.  They  then  formed  in  a  double  line  the 

[116] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 

full  length  of  the  ship  and  as  Donovan  ran  down  the 
middle  of  it  they  laid  on  so  well  that  he  was  leaving 
a  trail  of  blood  before  he  tumbled  in  a  heap  at  the 
end.  He  was  then  placed  in  the  brig  and  kept  there 
until  we  came  to  a  small  island  off  the  Costa  Rican 
coast,  on  which  he  was  landed  with  enough  water 
and  provisions  to  last  him  a  couple  of  weeks  or  more 
and  a  flag  that  he  could  use  to  signal  any  vessel  com- 
ing his  way.  There  was  not  a  great  deal  of  travel 
down  that  way  in  those  days  and  he  may  still  be 
there,  doing  a  repetition  of  the  Robinson  Crusoe  act, 
though  the  island  was  not  very  large  and  the  boat's 
crew  that  landed  him  reported  that  they  saw  no  goats. 
Donovan  was  helpless  from  fear  when  he  was  lowered 
into  the  boat  to  be  rowed  to  the  island,  and  begged 
for  mercy,  but  that  was  something  our  cargo  did  not 
contain. 

The  arms  we  carried  were  sold  to  the  revolutionists 
in  Costa  Rica,  being  paid  for  partly  in  cash  and  partly 
in  coffee,  which  I  sold  at  Curacoa.  From  there  I 
returned  to  Venezuela  and  reported  to  Guzman 
Blanco,  after  having  been  away  only  about  four 
months.  Not  long  after  my  arrival  in  Caracas,  where 
I  resumed  my  old  position  as  confidential  agent  for 
Guzman,  I  received  a  letter  from  President  Baez  ask- 
ing me  to  enter  his  employ,  to  reorganize  his  army 

[117] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

and  aid  him  in  suppressing  the  revolutionary  feeling 
which  was  being  developed  by  agents  for  Pimental 
and  Cabral.  He  offered  to  give  me  a  commission  as 
General  in  the  Santo  Domingan  Army,  which  he  did 
do  later,  and  to  pay  me  liberally  for  my  services, 
which  he  didn't  do.  I  replied  that  I  had  again  asso- 
ciated myself  with  Guzman  and  that  while  no  length 
of  service  had  been  specified,  I  wished  to  remain  with 
him  at  least  a  short  while,  after  which  I  would  try  to 
get  leave  to  join  the  Santo  Domingans. 

Guzman  was  paving  the  way  for  his  election  as 
Constitutional  President,  which  was  accomplished  the 
next  year,  1873,  and  all  of  his  friends  were  working 
to  that  end.  He  was  supported  by  a  public  sentiment 
that  became  practically  unanimous,  but  there  were  a 
few  who  were  unalterably  opposed  to  any  established 
order  of  things  and  who  could  not  get  over  the  habit 
of  "  revoluting,"  with  or  without  provocation.  During 
the  Fall  and  Winter  these  discontented  ones  grad- 
ually drew  together  under  the  leadership  of  General 
Pulido.  Guzman  was  kept  advised  as  to  what  they 
were  doing  but  their  following  was  so  small  that  it 
caused  him  no  uneasiness  and,  to  further  strengthen 
himself  with  the  people,  he  determined  to  take  no 
steps  against  them  until  they  came  out  in  the  open, 
when  he  was  prepared  to  crush  them.  The  moment 

[118] 


THE  MAROONING  OF  A  TRAITOR 

the  rebels  raised  their  banners  Guzman  took  the  field 
against  them,  in  person.  At  the  head  of  an  army  of 
four  thousand  veterans  he  marched  to  Valencia  where 
he  met  Pulido  and  routed  him,  following  up  his  scat- 
tered forces  and  almost  annihilating  them,  and  the 
revolt  was  stamped  out  with  one  smashing  blow. 
That  was  the  last  hand  raised  against  Guzman  for 
seventeen  years;  during  all  of  that  time  he  was  the 
absolute  dictator  of  Venezuela.  The  constitution  pro- 
hibited the  President  from  succeeding  himself  so  he 
occupied  that  office  for  alternate  terms,  with  an 
obedient  dummy  serving  in  the  intervals,  which  he 
spent  in  Europe  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary,  direct- 
ing the  government  by  mail.  His  rule  was  wise  and 
progressive.  Railroads  were  built,  roads  improved, 
schools  established,  and  real  religious  liberty  took  the 
place  of  clericalism.  He  was  betrayed,  in  the  end,  by 
his  supposed  friends,  men  whom  he  had  raised  to 
prominence  and  prosperity.  Had  he  been  succeeded 
by  a  man  as  strong  and  able  as  himself  Venezuela 
would  to-day  be  the  foremost  country  in  South 
America,  instead  of  the  one  most  uncivilized. 

Not  long  after  the  campaign  against  Pulido,  in 
which  I  served  on  Guzman's  staff,  I  received  another 
letter  from  Baez,  urging  me  to  come  to  Santo 
Domingo.  The  same  mail  brought  a  letter  from  Baez 

[119] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

to  Guzman,  asking  him  to  grant  me  leave  of  absence 
for  a  few  months  to  enter  his  service.  Guzman  was 
flattered  by  this  request  and  with  his  permission  I 
went  to  Santo  Domingo  City  in  the  Spring  of  1873, 
on  the  "Juliette." 


[120] 


CHAPTER   VI 
A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

RESIDENT  BAEZ  of  Santo  Domingo  was  short 
and  thin  and  had  a  washed-out  look,  as  though  his 
skin  had  been  faded  by  chemicals  instead  of  by  a  three- 
quarters'  admixture  of  white  blood.  He  had  large  full 
eyes  that  were  shifty  and  insincere.  He  was  clever 
but  superficial,  cunning  and  treacherous.  Had  I  seen 
him  before  I  went  to  his  cursed  country,  to  reor- 
ganize his  army  and  aid  in  putting  down  the  grow- 
ing revolutionary  sentiment,  I  would  have  remained 
in  Venezuela  or  gone  elsewhere  in  search  of  adven- 
ture, for  he  looked  a  coward  and  provoked  distrust. 
I  had  heard  of  him  only  as  a  good  fighter  but  that 
reputation,  I  became  convinced  soon  after  my  first 
visit  to  the  "  palace,"  had  been  earned  for  him  by  his 
former  friends  and  supporters  and  was  in  no  sense 
the  work  of  his  own  sword,  at  least  so  far  as  recent 
years  were  concerned.  In  his  earlier  days  he  might 
have  displayed  more  bravery,  and  he  must  have 
shown  some  courage  to  arouse  a  fighting  degree  of 
loyalty  that  had  four  times  swept  the  country,  but 
presuming  that  to  be  true  he  had  gone  back  greatly 

[121] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

with  advancing  age.  He  seemed  to  have  convinced 
the  superstitious  mulattoes,  with  whom  the  still 
more  fanatical  full-blooded  blacks  were  always  at 
war,  that  he  was  a  real  man  of  destiny  whose  course 
could  not  safely  be  interfered  with,  and  his  successive 
successes  probably  were  due  more  to  that  belief  than 
to  any  other  cause.  His  brother,  the  Minister  of 
War,  had  all  of  the  President's  faults  in  accentuated 
form  and  added  to  them  an  inordinate  vanity.  He 
was  jealous  of  me  from  the  start.  He  had  expected 
that  I  would  recommend  to  him  such  changes  in  the 
"military  establishment"  as  I  thought  wise,  but  I 
insisted  on  doing  things  myself  and  having  a  free 
hand,  which  the  President  was  quite  willing  to  give 
me,  perhaps  because  he  was  suspicious  of  even  his 
own  brother. 

The  "army"  was,  in  reality,  not  much  more  than 
an  unorganized  body  of  densely  ignorant  natives 
who,  as  practically  the  only  compensation  for  their 
supposed  loyalty,  were  allowed  to  carry  guns,  which 
they  did  not  know  how  to  use.  I  taught  them  how 
to  march  without  getting  in  each  other's  way,  how  to 
handle  their  arms  without  shooting  themselves,  and 
as  much  discipline  as  they  were  amenable  to,  but  I 
fear  my  efforts  did  not  go  much  beyond  that  even 
though  they  did  effect  a  decided  improvement.  One 

[122] 


A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

of  my  first  recommendations  to  the  President  was 
that  he  buy  and  fit  out  two  small  gunboats  with  which 
to  patrol  the  coast  and  hold  in  check  such  revolu- 
tionary centres  as  Monte  Cristi,  under  threat  of  bom- 
bardment. They  could  also  be  used,  as  I  pointed  out, 
to  transport  troops  quickly  to  rebelliously  inclined 
districts.  The  President  thought  well  of  the  plan  and, 
though  I  advised  steamers,  he  directed  that  the 
"Juliette,"  for  which  he  agreed  to  pay  a  fair  price, 
be  converted  into  such  a  craft.  I  ordered  five  small 
rapid-fire  guns  sent  from  England  to  Halifax,  Nova 
Scotia,  and,  the  revolutionary  spirit  seemingly  having 
subsided  with  the  improvement  in  the  army,  took  the 
"  Juliette  "  there  in  the  Summer  of  1873,  to  have  her 
decks  strengthened  and  mount  the  cannon.  We 
returned  early  in  the  Fall  to  find  that  the  smouldering 
revolution  had  burst  into  a  flame  and  a  large  force 
was  marching  on  Santo  Domingo  City,  and  only  a 
few  miles  away.  When  I  reached  the  palace  the  Presi- 
dent and  his  brother  were  vehemently  but  vainly  ad- 
vising each  other  to  be  brave. 

"  What  shall  we  do  —  what  shall  we  do?  "  demanded 
the  President  as  I  entered  the  door. 

"It  strikes  me  that  it  might  be  a  good  scheme  to 
fight,"  I  replied,  with  no  attempt  to  conceal  my  dis- 
gust at  their  attitude.  "  In  fact,  I  should  say  it  is  up 

[123] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

to  us  to  fight,  and  fight  until  we  are  all  bloody,  if  we 
have  to." 

"Yes,  yes,  but  where?"  queried  the  trembling  chief 
executive. 

"  Go  out  and  meet  them,"  I  advised.  "  They  prob- 
ably will  not  be  looking  for  us,  as  I  judge  that  would 
be  a  departure  from  the  established  Santo  Domingan 
method  of  warfare,  and  we  may  be  able  to  take 
them  at  a  disadvantage." 

"  No,  no,"  urged  the  panic-stricken  Minister  of 
War,  "let  us  wait  until  they  get  into  the  city  and 
then  bombard  them  with  your  guns." 

"Which  would  mean,"  I  said,  "killing  four  or  five 
of  your  own  people  to  every  one  of  the  enemy.  I 
am  not  used  to  that  way  of  fighting  and  don't  know 
how  to  do  it." 

They  told  me  there  were  about  three  thousand  men 
in  the  attacking  force.  We  had  more  than  four  thou- 
sand men  under  arms,  which  gave  us  the  advantage 
of  numbers.  The  city  had  no  defences  worthy  the 
name  and  I  insisted  that  the  thing  to  do  was  to  go 
outside  and  fight  it  out  in  the  open,  while  the  doughty 
General,  who  seemed  to  be  seeking  delay  more  than 
anything  else,  was  in  favor  of  making  a  rough-and- 
tumble  of  it  in  the  town.  The  President,  who  had 
imbibed  something  of  American  ideas  during  his 

[124] 


A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

three  years'  residence  in  New  York,  and  who  had 
apparently  regained  a  little  of  his  nerve  while  we 
were  canvassing  the  situation,  agreed  with  me,  and, 
against  the  continued  objections  of  his  brother,  we 
went  out  to  meet  the  attacking  army. 

Gen.  Baez  commanded  our  centre  and  right  while 
I  commanded  our  left  flank.  His  reason  for  wanting 
to  postpone  the  action  was  quickly  apparent,  for  he 
was  an  arrant  coward.  He  began  to  give  way,  before 
a  force  that  was  inferior  in  both  numbers  and  dis- 
cipline, with  the  firing  of  the  first  gun,  and  fell  back 
so  rapidly  that  before  I  realized  it  my  command  was 
flanked  and  almost  cut  off,  with  the  sea  on  one  side 
of  us  and  the  enemy  on  two  others  and  rapidly  clos- 
ing up  the  fourth.  My  men  fought  surprisingly  well 
until  they  suddenly  discovered  that  they  were  almost 
surrounded,  when  they  promptly  went  into  a  panic. 
Most  of  them  dropped  their  guns  and  ran  for  the  city, 
with  an  activity  of  which  I  had  not  dreamed  them 
capable,  while  nearly  all  of  the  others,  in  regular 
South  American  fashion,  about-faced  and  joined  the 
rebels  on  the  spot.  In  a  few  minutes  I  was  captured, 
along  with  about  a  hundred  men  who  were  so 
numbed  by  fear  that  they  could  neither  run  nor  fight, 
and  had  not  enough  discretion  to  join  the  enemy.  I 
was  furious  over  the  cowardice  of  Baez  and  put  up 

[125] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

the  hardest  fight  I  was  capable  of,  with  the  satisfac- 
tion of  putting  six  or  eight  blacks  on  a  permanent 
peace  basis,  but  with  my  revolver  empty  and  my 
sword  broken  I  was  overwhelmed  by  the  inky  cloud. 
Gen.  Baez  galloped  back  to  the  city  and  he  and  his 
bewildered  brother,  the  President,  had  barely  time  to 
board  a  small  schooner  and  sail  for  Curacoa  before  the 
capital  was  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels.  Gen.  Ganier 
d'Aton,  a  tool  of  Pimental  and  Cabral,  was  at  once 
proclaimed  President,  and  hailed  by  the  populace 
with  the  customary  acclaim. 

Instead  of  being  killed  at  once,  as  I  had  expected 
to  be,  I  was  taken  to  a  small  fort  on  a  hill  near  the 
town  where,  on  the  trumped-up  and  altogether  false 
charge  that  I  had  fomented  trouble  and  brought  on 
civil  war,  I  was  tried  by  drum-head  court-martial  and 
sentenced  to  be  shot  at  sunrise.  The  verdict  was,  of 
course,  dictated  by  revenge,  and  execution  of  it  was 
delayed  because  they  wished  to  gloat  over  me  for  a 
while.  This  was  a  little  the  most  serious  predicament 
I  had  ever  been  in  and,  with  the  idea  of  taking  every 
chance  that  was  open  to  me  rather  than  with  any  dis- 
tinct hope  that  it  would  be  answered,  I  gave  the  grand 
hailing  sign  of  a  powerful  secret  order  which  I  had 
joined  while  in  Caracas.  I  thought  I  saw  a  sergeant 
raise  his  eyes  but,  as  he  gave  no  further  sign,  I  con- 

[126] 


A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

eluded  that  if  there  had  been  any  movement  it  had 
been  one  of  surprise  and  not  of  recognition.  I  was 
placed  in  a  large  sola  with  windows  opening  on  the 
courtyard  and  blank  walls  on  the  other  three  sides. 
The  windows  were  barred  and  after  satisfying  myself 
that  they  were  secure,  and  that  there  was  no  way  of 
escape,  I  laid  down  and  smoked,  reflecting  that  if  my 
time  had  come  there  was  no  way  of  interfering  with 
the  programme  scheduled  for  the  break  of  day.  The 
soldiers  were  drinking  and  celebrating  their  victory 
with  shouts  and  songs,  which  lessened  in  volume  and 
vehemence  as  the  night  wore  on,  but  two  sentries  who 
paced  back  and  forth  in  front  of  my  room  and  met  un- 
der one  of  the  windows  religiously  kept  sober.  Now 
and  then  a  drunken  coterie  would  press  their  dirty 
faces  against  the  bars  to  hurl  at  me  denunciatory 
bursts  of  Spanish  eloquence,  to  which  I  vigorously  re- 
plied, but  these  enlivening  visits  grew  less  and  less 
frequent,  as  the  consumption  of  tafia  rum  increased. 

Along  about  three  o'clock,  just  as  I  had  about  made 
up  my  mind  that  in  a  couple  of  hours  I  would  be 
due  to  start  on  an  indefinite  exploration  into  regions 
about  which  nothing  is  known  except  that  no 
traveller  ever  returns  from  them,  I  heard  a  short 
scuffle  at  each  end  of  the  path  the  sentries  were 
patrolling  and  a  gurgling  noise  as  though  a  man  was 

[127] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

choking.  The  next  moment  Lorensen's  voice  came 
softly  through  the  door,  "  Are  you  in  there,  Captain?  " 
I  assured  him  that  I  was. 

"  Stand  away  from  the  door, "  he  said,  and  I  obeyed 
the  order  with  pleasurable  alacrity.  Three  blows 
with  a  log  of  crutch  mahogany  taken  from  a  pile  in 
the  courtyard  which  had  been  brought  in  from  the 
mountains  for  export,  smashed  in  the  door.  Loren- 
sen  seized  my  arm  and,  led  by  the  sergeant  who  had, 
after  all,  recognized  the  sign  I  had  made  and  an- 
swered it,  we  climbed  down  a  declivity  back  of  the  fort 
and  made  our  way  to  the  shore,  where  two  boats 
were  waiting  for  us.  The  smashing  in  of  the  door  of 
my  prison  aroused  the  drowsy  guard  and  we  were 
hardly  well  out  of  the  fort  before  there  was  a  beating 
of  drums  and  loud  shouts  from  the  few  half  sober 
officers,  directed  at  the  soundly  sleeping  soldiers. 
They  finally  mustered  a  detachment  which  was  sent 
in  pursuit  of  us,  but  they  were  not  in  a  condition  to 
move  rapidly  and  did  not  reach  the  shore  until  we 
were  a  considerable  distance  away  from  it.  They 
fired  a  few  shots  in  the  general  direction  of  the  sea 
but  as  we  were  in  no  danger  of  being  hit  we  did  not 
raise  a  gun. 

When  we  got  out  to  the  "  Juliette  "  I  heard  the  story 
of  my  deliverance.  I  had  been  taken  prisoner  about 

L128] 


the  middle  of  the  afternoon  and  it  was  early  in  the 
evening  when  the  death  sentence  was  passed  on  me. 
The  sergeant,  whose  name  was  Alexandro,  had  under- 
stood my  signal.  He  went  into  the  city  as  soon  as  he 
could  get  away  from  the  fort  and,  by  persistent  ques- 
tioning of  the  natives,  finally  ascertained  that  I  was  in 
command  of  the  American  ship  lying  in  the  harbor,  — 
for  I  had  not  hoisted  the  Santo  Domingan  flag  on  the 
"  Juliette."  He  then  rowed  out  to  the  ship  and,  after 
telling  Lorensen  what  had  happened,  through  a  mem- 
ber of  the  crew  who  could  speak  Spanish,  offered 
to  lead  a  rescuing  party  to  the  place  where  I  was  con- 
fined. He  said  it  would  be  comparatively  easy  to  get 
me  away  as  only  a  small  body  of  troops  had  been  left 
at  the  fort,  the  supply  of  rum  in  the  city  being  much 
larger,  and  they  would  be  helpless  from  drink. 

Lorensen,  being  a  member  of  the  same  order,  could 
well  understand  why  a  white  man  should  have  taken 
the  deep  personal  interest  in  my  welfare  which  Alex- 
andro manifested,  but  he  was  suspicious  that  the  negro 
was  seeking  to  lead  him  into  a  trap.  He  decided, 
however,  to  take  no  chances,  so,  after  warning  Alex- 
andro that  he  would  be  the  first  man  killed  if  he 
attempted  any  treachery,  Lorensen  went  ashore  with 
sixteen  well  armed  men,  six  of  whom  were  left  with 
the  boats  while  the  others  proceeded  to  the  old  fort. 

[129] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

They  surprised  the  two  sentries  at  the  opposite  ends 
of  their  beat,  throttled  them  and,  as  the  surest  means 
of  preventing  an  outcry,  cut  their  throats,  which  ac- 
counted for  the  gurgling  noise  I  had  heard.  Then 
they  broke  in  the  door  of  the  sola,  in  which  operation 
they  were  obliged  to  make  enough  noise  to  arouse  the 
guard. 

Such  are  the  obligations  of  a  great  secret  order. 

Men  whom  I  sent  ashore  reported  that  President 
Baez  and  his  brother  had  fled  and  the  rebels  were  in 
full  control  of  the  government,  and  as  soon  as  it  was 
day  I  sailed  close  in  and  bombarded  the  fort  where 
my  execution  was  to  have  taken  place.  There  was  a 
great  helter-skeltering  of  rum-soaked  braves  when 
the  first  shells  exploded  around  their  ears,  but  there 
were  some  who  did  not  get  away,  and  the  crumbling 
walls  came  down  and  buried  them.  Then  we  headed 
for  Venezuela  again,  after  an  experience  that  paid  me 
only  in  excitement.  I  had  not  drawn  a  dollar  from 
Baez  and  I  had  been  obliged  to  pay  for  the  changes 
made  in  the  "Juliette"  and  for  the  guns  that  were 
brought  from  England,  for  I  could  not  find  a  banker 
in  Halifax  who  would  advance  a  cent  on  the  letter  of 
credit  from  the  great  Republic  of  Santo  Domingo. 
Still,  I  figured  that  the  experience  had  furnished  me 
enough  excitement  to  justify  its  cost.  Several  years 

[130] 


A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

later  I  met  Gen.  Baez  again  in  Murphy's  Hotel  at  St. 
Thomas  but  did  not  see  him  until  he  took  a  good- 
natured  shot  at  me.  The  bullet  smashed  a  pile  of 
dishes  on  the  arm  of  a  waiter  ten  feet  away  from  me, 
and  from  the  start  that  waiter  made  I  would  not  be 
surprised  to  hear  that  he  is  running  yet  around  the 
hills  back  of  Charlotte  Amalia. 

At  Caracas  I  found  that  Guzman  had  been  duly 
elected  Constitutional  President.  He  was  inaugu- 
rating a  scheme  of  public  improvements,  the  country 
had  settled  down  to  business,  and  the  prospect  was 
all  for  long  continued  peace,  which  was  displeasing 
to  me  and  I  wanted  to  get  away  again.  However, 
Guzman  had  a  plan  to  keep  me  busy.  There  was  not 
then,  nor  is  there  now  for  that  matter,  a  decent  map 
of  Venezuela.  It  was  reported  from  Paris  that  a 
Frenchman  had  gone  up  the  Orinoco  to  its  head- 
waters and  had  found  that  the  Casiquiare  River, 
which  empties  into  it,  formed  a  natural  canal  con- 
necting with  the  Rio  Negro,  which  runs  into  the 
Amazon  at  Manaos,  Brazil.  Guzman  proposed  that 
I  go  over  this  route  and  seek  to  verify  the  French- 
man's report.  Exploring  unknown  lands  has  always 
been  as  much  a  passion  with  me  as  aiding  and  abet- 
ting revolutions,  and  I  willingly  accepted  the  com- 
mission, but,  though  I  did  not  tell  Guzman  so,  I  had 

[  131 J 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

no  intention  of  returning  to  Caracas.  As  an  evidence 
of  my  appreciation  of  his  friendship  I  gave  him  a 
Jurgensen  watch,  which  I  had  had  made  to  order, 
and  the  "Juliette,"  just  as  she  stood,  sending  Loren- 
sen  and  one  or  two  others  to  London  to  work  under 
the  direction  of  my  agents  until  I  should  arrive.  He 
used  the  good  little  ship  for  years  as  a  mail  boat  be- 
tween La  Guaira  and  Curacoa.  Guzman  gave  me  a 
Damascus  sword  of  exquisite  workmanship,  which,  not 
long  afterward,  I  used  with  good  effect  on  the  pirates 
of  the  China  Sea. 

He  wanted  the  exploration  made  on  a  grand  scale 
and  suggested  that  he  send  along  a  detachment  of 
soldiers.  I  convinced  him  that  his  plan  was  im- 
practicable, for  a  small  party  could  get  through  much 
more  easily  than  a  large  one.  Late  in  October  I  went 
to  Trinidad  to  outfit  for  the  trip.  There,  at  the  old 
Ice  House  Hotel,  I  met  two  young  Britishers  who 
were  men  after  my  own  heart:  Dr.  Rogers,  a  rich 
Church  of  England  clergyman  who  preferred  the 
legitimate  pleasures  of  this  world  to  the  prospects  of 
the  next,  and  Frank  Anderson,  son  of  a  wealthy 
Glasgow  merchant  and  a  recent  graduate  of  Edin- 
burgh University.  They  had  come  out  to  hunt  for 
big  game  and  were  outfitting  for  a  trip  up  the  Ori- 
noco. When  I  told  them  where  I  was  going  they 

[132] 


A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

expressed  a  great  desire  to  accompany  me  and  I 
readily  agreed.  I  was  glad  to  have  such  good  com- 
panions for  the  long  and  probably  dangerous  journey, 
for  it  was  a  tradition  that  there  were  many  "bad 
Indians"  far  up  the  river.  I  was  the  commandant 
of  the  party,  Rogers  was  the  scientist,  and  Anderson 
the  provider.  They  had  brought  out  from  England 
two  Peacock  collapsible  boats  and  to  complete  our 
fleet  I  bought  an  Orinoco  lancha,  a  large  flat-bottomed 
scow  with  a  single  enormous  sail. 

We  went  up  as  far  as  Ciudad  Bolivar,  the  head  of 
steam  navigation,  on  the  old  side-wheeler  "  Bolivar," 
and  there  took  to  our  boats,  which  were  provisioned 
for  six  months  and  carried  seven  natives  to  do  the 
hard  work.  There  was  only  a  slight  current  in  the 
river,  which  was  at  low  stage  as  it  was  then  "mid- 
summer"—  their  winter  comes  with  the  rainy  season 
in  our  midsummer,  —  while  the  steady  trade  wind 
from  the  Atlantic  blew  straight  upstream,  so  we  made 
good  progress  under  sail.  It  was  a  lazy  trip  in  the 
early  stages  and  a  tiresome  one,  for  there  were  only 
a  few  dirty  hamlets  along  the  way  and  the  llanos 
stretched  away  on  both  sides  of  us  in  an  interminable 
monotony.  At  the  confluence  of  the  Apure  and 
Arauca  Rivers,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  above 
Ciudad  Bolivar,  we  found  a  great  inland  delta,  larger 

[133] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

and  more  bewildering  than  that  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Orinoco  where  there  are  thirty-six  separate  channels 
that  have  been  charted.  This  delta,  like  the  one  on 
the  coast,  was  formed  by  the  tremendous  force  and 
volume  of  the  "  midwinter  "  floods,  which  had  built  up 
BO  many  islands  of  soft  mud  that  it  was  at  times  diffi- 
cult for  us  to  stick  to  the  main  stream. 

One  of  our  most  interesting  experiences  was  at  the 
junction  of  the  Rio  Meta  and  the  Orinoco,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  farther  on,  where  we  encountered 
the  so-called  "  musical  stones,"  of  which  we  had  heard 
marvellous  tales  from  the  natives.  These  are  granite 
cliffs  which,  we  had  been  told,  gave  out  at  sunrise 
sounds  closely  resembling  the  tones  of  an  organ.  This 
mythical  music,  as  we  regarded  it,  caused  us  to  stay 
here  several  days  and  finally,  on  one  very  cool  morn- 
ing, by  placing  our  ears  to  the  rocks,  we  distinctly 
heard  subterranean  growls,  groans,  and  whistles, 
which  could  without  great  stretch  of  the  imagination 
be  compared  to  the  notes  of  an  organ,  though  it  must 
needs  be  a  wheezy  one  to  make  the  similarity  approx- 
imately honest.  We  all  knew  something  about  geol- 
ogy and,  without  pretending  to  give  a  scientific 
conclusion,  it  was  our  opinion  that  the  sounds  were 
caused  by  the  hot  air  of  the  day,  which  the  rocks  re- 
tained during  the  night,  being  driven  out  by  the  cool 

[134] 


A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

air  of  the  early  morning  through  narrow  fissures  that 
were  partially  obstructed  by  thin  layers  of  mica,  lying 
at  an  angle  to  the  general  stratification,  which  served 
as  reeds.  The  resultant  vibrations  were  musical 
enough  to  produce  a  weird  sensation  as  we  listened 
to  them,  and  it  was  easy  to  imagine  the  effect  they 
would  have  on  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  natives, 
and  the  stories  for  which  they  furnished  a  foundation. 
The  Orinoco  is  navigable  as  far  as  the  Meta  for  light- 
draft  steamers  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  but  it  may 
be  centuries  before  the  "  musical  stones "  become  an 
advertised  attraction  for  tourists. 

At  Atures,  one  hundred  miles  above,  and  again  at 
Maypures,  just  beyond,  were  two  rapids  around  which 
our  boats  had  to  be  carried;  but  with  these  excep- 
tions it  was  plain  sailing,  or  paddling,  until  we  crossed 
the  line  into  Brazil.  Another  hundred  miles  beyond 
the  rapids  brought  us  to  the  jumping-off  place  of  the 
world  —  the  indescribably  filthy  little  hamlet  of  San 
Fernando  de  Atabapo,  built  where  the  Guaviare 
River  comes  down  from  the  mountains  of  Colombia 
to  join  the  Orinoco.  It  is  on  the  border  of  Venezuela 
and  Colombia  and  its  population  is  largely  made  up 
of  murderers  and  escaped  convicts  from  both  coun- 
tries, with  a  few  from  near-by  Brazil.  A  number  of 
the  leading  citizens  undertook  to  waylay  us  as  we 

[135] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

were  leaving  the  place  but  the  only  result  of  their 
misguided  effort  was  that  two  or  three  of  them  re- 
ceived what  the  law  would  have  administered  if  it  had 
been  given  a  chance. 

From  the  time  we  left  Ciudad  Bolivar  we  had  been 
sailing  through  a  veritable  wilderness,  with  human 
habitations  few  and  far  between,  but  after  we  left  San 
Fernando  de  Atabapo  we  travelled  through  the  pri- 
meval forest,  which  came  down  to  the  river's  edge 
on  both  sides.  Its  only  inhabitants  were  widely  scat- 
tered Indians,  who  were  inquisitive  enough  but  not 
at  all  ugly.  There  were  miles  and  miles  of  magnifi- 
cent rubber  trees,  which  were  especially  abundant 
along  the  Casiquiare,  and  great  stretches  of  vanilla 
and  cacao  growing  wild.  The  Orinoco  is  indeed  a 
wasted  waterway.  The  vast  empire  it  drains,  cover- 
ing more  than  half  of  Venezuela,  is  marvellously  rich 
in  minerals  and  in  its  forests,  and  could  easily  be  made 
as  rich  in  agriculture.  Yet  when  we  made  our  trip 
there  were  fewer  people  living  along  it  than  there  had 
been  four  hundred  years  before  when  Ordaz,  the 
Spanish  explorer,  ascended  it  to  the  mouth  of  the  Meta, 
and  I  doubt  if  there  has  been  any  increase  in  the  popu- 
lation since  our  visit.  Ten  Hudson  Rivers  could  be 
added  to  or  taken  from  the  Orinoco  without  affecting 
it,  yet  it  is  traversed  only  by  the  native  lanchas  and 
bongos,  or  dugouts.  [  136  ] 


A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

We  turned  into  the  Casiquiare  River,  two  hundred 
miles  above  San  Fernando  de  Atabapo,  with  consider- 
able regret,  for  we  would  have  greatly  liked  to  follow 
the  Orinoco  to  its  unexplored  source  in  the  mys- 
terious Parima  Mountains,  where  is  said  to  dwell  a 
race  of  white  Indians,  who  are  popularly  supposed  to 
stand  guard,  with  deadly  blow  pipes  shooting  darts 
that  produce  instant  death,  over  vast  treasures  of 
virgin  gold.  But  that  would  have  taken  many  months 
more  and  we  were  not  prepared  for  so  long  a  trip. 
The  priceless  forest  which  surrounded  us  was  filled 
with  game  of  all  kinds  and  great  snakes,  and  alive 
with  birds  of  wondrous  plumage.  There  were  so 
many  snakes,  in  fact,  that  we  anchored  our  boats  at 
night  and  slept  in  them  in  the  middle  of  the  river, 
where  we  had  nothing  to  fear  but  the  enormous 
crocodiles  which  poked  us  with  their  ugly  snouts  to 
prevent  us  from  oversleeping.  We  landed  every  day 
to  stretch  our  legs  and  shoot,  with  ridiculous  ease, 
enough  game  to  keep  us  in  fresh  meat,  but  we  never 
camped  on  shore  at  night. 

After  following  the  Casiquiare  for  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  or  more  we  came  to  the  parting  of  the 
ways  —  the  point  at  which  the  Rio  Negro,  coming 
down  from  the  foothills  of  the  Andes,  five  hundred 
miles  away,  divides  to  feed  both  the  Orinoco  and  the 

[137] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

Amazon  —  and  solved  the  mystery  of  the  two  rivers. 
There  was  no  connecting  canal  of  slack  water,  as  the 
Frenchman  was  said  to  have  reported.  The  Rio 
Negro,  a  wide  and  deep  stream,  forms  the  boundary 
between  Venezuela  and  Colombia  for  nearly  two  hun- 
dred miles.  At  two  degrees  north  latitude,  or  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  the  equator,  it 
divides,  the  smaller  part,  approximately  one-third  of 
the  volume,  forming  the  Casiquiare,  which  runs  east 
for  a  short  distance  and  then  north  to  the  Orinoco, 
while  the  main  stream  runs  south  and  then  east  until 
it  empties  into  the  Amazon  at  Manaos.  Though  we 
had  no  map  to  guide  us  the  situation  seemed  plain 
when  we  reached  the  larger  river,  which  fed  the 
Casiquiare,  and  by  following  the  downward  course 
of  that  stream  until  we  were  certain  it  was  the  Rio 
Negro,  we  settled  the  question. 

Just  below  the  junction  of  the  Ucayari  River  with 
the  Rio  Negro,  almost  directly  under  the  equator,  we 
came  to  a  succession  of  falls  and  rapids  around  which 
we  made  a  portage.  From  there  on,  through  the  same 
silent  wilderness  of  natural  wealth  that  we  had  tra- 
versed for  weeks,  we  leisurely  sailed  and  drifted  down 
to  the  Amazon,  for  the  blistering  heat  discouraged  all 
physical  effort  that  was  not  mandatory.  It  was  not 
until  we  reached  the  lower  reaches  of  the  river  that 

[138] 


A  SWIFT  VENGEANCE 

we  found  men  gathering  rubber,  and  they  were  tak- 
ing only  ounces  where  tons  were  at  their  hands.  We 
reached  Manaos  early  in  May,  1874.  We  had  been 
six  months  on  the  trip  and  had  covered  all  of  two 
thousand  miles  which,  everything  considered,  was 
fast  travelling.  Aside  from  its  educational  value  the 
exploration  had  been  delightful,  and  though  tired  from 
living  so  long  in  cramped  quarters  we  were  all  in 
better  health  than  when  we  left  Trinidad. 

My  companions,  who  rejoiced  in  having  been  thrown 
in  the  way  of  greater  sport  and  more  interesting 
experiences  than  they  had  expected  to  find,  were 
ready  to  return  to  England  and  I  arranged  to  go 
with  them.  After  resting  for  a  week  or  two  we  went 
down  to  Para  on  a  river  boat  and  thence  to  Rio 
Janiero  on  one  of  the  Lloyd  Brazilero  steamships. 
From  there  we  sailed  for  England  on  the  Royal  Mail 
steamship  "  Elbe,"  commanded  by  Captain  Moir,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  "Trent"  when  Mason  and 
Slidell  were  taken  off.  On  the  way  across  I  compiled 
a  full  report  of  the  exploring  trip  which  I  mailed  to 
Guzman,  with  a  promise  that  I  would  return  to 
Venezuela  within  a  few  years.  I  left  my  British 
friends  at  Southampton  and  went  to  London  to  join 
Frank  Norton  and  start  for  the  China  Sea,  of  which 
he  had  pictured  so  much  that  was  good  in  my  sight. 

[139] 


CHAPTER   VII 
PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

AS  a  boy  it  was  my  ambition  to  fight  Indians,  but 
if  I  had  known  as  much  about  them  then  as  I  do 
now,  I  would  have  selected  pirates.  They  have  none  of 
the  claims  on  life  which  the  real,  red,  native  Amer- 
icans enjoy,  and  they  can  be  fought  on  the  glorious 
sea  instead  of  on  land,  which  adds  to  the  inherent 
excitement.  It  was  in  the  Summer  of  1874  that  I 
made  my  first  plunge  into  piracy,  for,  with  all  of  the 
trimmings  and  aids  to  deception  stripped  away,  that 
was  what  it  really  amounted  to.  I  did  not  know  into 
just  what  I  was  being  led  when  I  embarked  in  this 
new  enterprise;  but  I  am  frank  to  say  that  it  would 
have  made  no  difference,  for  a  free  translation  of  the 
word  "  pirate  "  is  "  adventure  of  the  first  order,"  and 
that  was  what  I  was  looking  for. 

When  I  reached  London,  after  my  strange  escape 
from  execution  in  Santo  Domingo  and  the  exploration 
of  the  headwaters  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  Rio  Negro, 
Frank  Norton  was  coming  up  from  the  Mediterranean 
with  the  "  Leckwith,"  carrying  a  general  cargo,  and 
I  had  not  long  to  wait  for  him.  He  was  joyous  when  I 

[HO] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

told  him  I  was  ready  to  accompany  him  to  the  China 
Sea,  which  he  had  pictured  as  an  El  Dorado  of  excite- 
ment, with  many  golden  Manoas  that  might  be  con- 
verted into  Bank  of  England  notes.  There  was  to  be 
no  filibustering  there  for  we  had  no  thought  of  play- 
ing against  the  concert  of  Europe  with  our  one  little 
fiddle,  even  had  there  been  any  prospective  revolu- 
tions worth  the  hatching;  but  Norton  insisted  that 
there  was  plenty  of  adventure  to  be  found  and  much 
money  to  be  made  in  handling  equally  illegitimate 
cargoes  which  included  no  explosives  or  munitions 
of  war.  As  he  was  familiar  with  that  part  of  the 
world  I  took  his  word  for  it,  without  going  into 
minute  details.  He  said  we  would  need  the  "  Leck- 
with"  and  two  ships  to  carry  on  the  business  to  the 
best  advantage,  so  I  selected  the  "  Surprise,"  an 
American  brig,  and  the  "  Florence,"  a  topsail  schooner, 
both  stout,  fast  ships.  I  put  Lorensen  on  the  "  Leck- 
with "  as  sailing  master,  George  Brown  on  the  "  Sur- 
prise," and  old  Bill  Heather  on  the  "  Florence."  The 
"  Surprise "  took  on  a  general  cargo  for  Japan  and 
was  ordered  to  rendezvous  at  Hong  Kong,  while  the 
"  Florence  "  loaded  for  Singapore.  Norton  and  I  fol- 
lowed in  the  "Leckwith."  Two  brass  cannon  were 
mounted  in  place  of  the  yacht's  guns  she  carried  and 
we  took  on  board  four  small  carronades,  a  French 

[Hi] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

mitrailleuse,  and  several  hundred  rifles,  cutlasses,  and 
side  arms,  with  an  abundance  of  ammunition,  all  of 
which  were  stored  in  the  hold. 

Before  our  departure  I  had  printed  on  parchment, 
in  exact  imitation  of  the  genuine,  certificates  of 
registry  in  English,  Dutch,  German,  French,  and 
Spanish,  and  seals  made  to  correspond  to  them. 
These  I  filled  out,  as  occasion  demanded,  in  the  name 
the  particular  ship  bore  at  the  time,  and  in  the 
nationality  which  I  thought  would  furnish  the  best 
protection.  I  also  had  certificates  of  health,  consular 
clearances  and  bills  of  health,  custom  house  clearances, 
and  shipping  certificates  printed  in  different  lan- 
guages. Forged  service  certificates  were  also  issued 
to  old  men  of  long  service  who  were  competent 
officers  but  who  could  not  pass  the  technical  examina- 
tions provided  for  in  the  amended  maritime  laws. 
These  and  the  certificates  of  registry  were  aged  with  a 
solution  of  iron  and,  if  necessary,  rubbed  on  the  cabin 
floor  to  add  to  their  years.  I  had  used  similar  forged 
papers  while  filibustering  in  the  West  Indies  but  had 
never  had  such  an  elaborate  outfit,  though  I  was  never 
afterward  without  it.  With  these  papers  I  could  give 
a  ship  a  registry  under  any  flag  and  make  it  appear 
that  she  had  come  from  any  port  that  suited  my  pur- 
pose. They  were  signed  with  an  illegible  scrawl,  as 

[142] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

are  the  genuine.  To  further  complicate  matters  the 
"Leckwith"  was  supplied  with  a  telescopic  smoke- 
stack which,  when  lowered,  was  completely  hidden. 
She  was  schooner-rigged  and  could  be  transformed 
into  a  fore  and  aft  schooner  by  dousing  the  stack  and 
housing  the  yards  on  the  foremast,  or  into  a  brig  by 
putting  yards  on  the  mainmast.  Similar  changes  of 
rig  could  be  made  on  the  "  Florence  "  and  "  Surprise." 
I  never  used  a  ship  on  which  this  could  not  be  done. 
The  efficacy  of  these  precautions  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  I  have  never  lost  a  cargo  of  contraband, 
though  I  have  handled  scores  of  them. 

With  provision  made  for  all  of  the  deception  and 
trickery  which  experience  and  foresight  could  suggest 
we  headed  for  Singapore,  to  begin  a  career  of  adven- 
ture such  as  my  wild  mind  never  had  conceived,  even 
in  its  dearest  dreams.  On  the  long  trip  out  I  whiled 
away  the  time  in  an  effort  to  evolve  a  torpedo  of  a 
new  type.  I  had  been  interested  in  high  explosives 
all  my  life  and  had  long  believed  that  a  non-dirigible 
torpedo  could  be  devised  which  would  be  an  improve- 
ment on  our  own  Harvey,  —  which  was  towed  in  a 
bridle  and  was  not  practicable  for  a  greater  distance 
than  two  or  three  hundred  yards,  —  and  which  would 
have  advantages  over  the  dirigible  type.  To  facilitate 
my  experiments  I  had  on  board  a  lot  of  sheet  brass 

[143] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

and  before  the  end  of  the  trip  I  had  developed  a 
torpedo  that  I  regarded  as  perfection  and  which  I 
afterward  used  with  success,  though  it  finally  got  me 
into  trouble  in  South  America.  It  was  six  feet  long, 
thirty  inches  in  diameter,  and  shaped  like  a  fat  cigar. 
The  inside  was  lined  with  air  cylinders  to  give  it  the 
required  buoyancy,  and  inside  of  these  was  packed 
the  explosive  charge,  of  wet  gun-cotton  or  dynamite. 
It  was  towed  by  a  wire  or  small  rope  attached  to  the 
blunt  nose,  from  which  projected  six  spider-like  arms 
two  feet  long,  and  alternating  with  these  were  six 
shorter  arms  extending  outward  from  the  thickest 
part  of  the  torpedo.  The  forcing  backward  of  any  one 
of  these  arms  cut  off  a  shear  pin  and  released  a  spring 
which  set  off  a  fulminate  of  mercury  cap.  This  ex- 
ploded a  disc  of  dry  gun-cotton  which  set  off  the  main 
charge.  The  shear  pins  were  of  copper  wire  of  any 
desired  thickness,  but  were  intended  to  be  only  thick 
enough  to  prevent  the  arms  from  being  forced  back- 
ward, and  the  torpedo  discharged,  by  the  current  of 
a  river  or  by  the  resistance  of  the  water  when  being 
towed  or  by  small  driftwood  which  might  be  en- 
countered. 

The  buoyancy  of  the  loaded  torpedo  could  easily 
be  calculated  and  by  means  of  the  air  cylinders  it 
could  be  kept  awash  or  floated  just  below  the  surface, 

[144] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

the  latter  being  the  preferred  method  when  it  was  to 
be  used  during  the  day.  The  towing  wire  or  rope 
was  kept  on  the  surface  or  just  below  it  by  small 
floats,  distributed  at  such  distances  that  they  would 
attract  no  attention  even  in  the  improbable  event  of 
their  being  seen.  The  torpedo  was  intended  to  be 
towed  across  the  course  of  the  vessel  that  was  to  be 
destroyed.  The  moment  the  ship's  bow  picked  up  the 
towing  rope  her  fate  was  settled,  for  whether  the 
rope  was  fifty  yards  or  five  miles  long  it  was  simply 
a  question  of  time  until  the  torpedo  was  dragged 
alongside  and  exploded  by  the  pressure  of  one  of  the 
arms  against  the  side  of  the  vessel.  The  torpedo 
could  be  towed  astern  of  a  ship  or  a  launch  or  even 
an  innocent  rowboat.  In  river  work  it  could  be 
stretched  across  the  stream  with  a  line  at  each  end, 
the  shorter  one  being  only  strong  enough  to  with- 
stand the  current,  so  it  would  part  easily  when  the 
unfriendly  ship  picked  up  the  line  attached  to  the 
nose  of  the  torpedo.  I  was  greatly  pleased  with  my 
invention  and  it  was  not  long  until  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  prove  that  it  was  a  complete  success. 

We  reached  Singapore  more  than  a  month  ahead 
of  the  "  Florence  "  and  on  our  arrival  there  Norton  un- 
folded his  whole  scheme  to  me.  The  gist  of  it  was 
that  we  were  to  prey  on  the  pirates  who  infested  the 

[145] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

China  Sea,  and  particularly  that  part  of  it  lying  be- 
tween Singapore,  Sumatra,  and  Borneo,  which  was 
dotted  with  islands  and  beautifully  suited  by  nature 
to  their  plundering  profession.  Every  ship  going  to 
Europe  from  China,  Indo-China,  Siam,  and  from  the 
Philippines  and  the  network  of  islands  to  the  south 
of  them,  as  well  as  vessels  coming  up  from  the  Indian 
Ocean  through  the  Strait  of  Sunda,  between  Sumatra 
and  Java,  had  to  run  the  gantlet  of  this  piratical 
nest,  and  many  were  the  good  ships  that  ended  their 
cruises  there,  along  with  their  passengers  and  crews. 
It  was  here  the  pirates  held  out  last  in  their  long  and 
bloody  fight  against  civilization,  as  the  present  state 
of  mankind  in  general  is  called.  The  British  Govern- 
ment had  been  trying  for  years  to  put  an  end  to  their 
operations  but  there  were  so  many  of  the  islands,  and 
the  opportunities  for  concealment  and  escape  were 
so  numerous,  that  the  undertaking  was  a  gigantic 
one.  It  was  not  until  years  after  my  tragic  appear- 
ance on  this  stage  that  it  was  officially  announced 
that  piracy  had  been  suppressed.  Even  that  long 
delayed  declaration  was  not  altogther  true,  for  in  that 
accursed  region,  now  well  known  but  yet  mysterious, 
piracy  is  still  being  carried  on,  even  to  this  day, 
though  in  a  small  and  desultory  way.  There  were  a 
few  islands  farther  north,  off  the  southern  coast  of 

[146] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

Indo-China,  among  which  the  pirates  sometimes 
rendezvoused  to  lay  in  wait  for  their  prey,  but  in  ordi- 
nary weather  it  was  easy  for  ships  to  keep  clear  of 
these  danger  spots.  But  they  could  not  avoid  those 
islands  lying  northeast  of  Singapore,  and  it  was  there 
that  most  of  the  merchantmen  were  looted. 

The  pirates  were  chiefly  Chinese,  with  a  consider- 
able number  of  Malays  and  some  Dyaks.  As  to 
bravery  and  bloodthirstiness  there  was  little  choice 
between  them.  They  were  all  desperate  villains  and 
their  thirst  for  gold  was  exceeded  only  by  their  truly 
Oriental  cunning.  When  they  fell  from  wounds  they 
would  watch  for  an  opportunity  to  hamstring  their 
opponents  or  disembowel  them  with  their  long, 
crooked  knives,  which  were  as  sharp  as  razors.  After 
we  discovered  this  devilish  trait  no  quarter  was  ever 
shown  them.  When  one  of  them  fell  he  was  shot 
through  the  head  or  stabbed,  to  make  sure  that  he 
would  do  no  further  harm.  Nothing  else  could  be 
done  with  such  an  enemy.  The  Chinese  operated 
chiefly  in  large  junks,  with  which  they  could  go  well 
out  to  sea.  Most  of  them  carried  guns  of  consider- 
able size,  while  all  of  them  were  supplied  with  a  multi- 
tude of  stink-pots,  —  their  favorite  weapon.  These 
were  round  earthenware  pots,  twelve  or  fifteen  inches 
in  diameter,  filled  with  a  black  mixture  of  the  consist- 

[147] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ency  of  moist  earth,  which  was  lighted  just  before  the 
missile  was  thrown.  They  were  handled  in  a  sling, 
such  as  every  small  boy  has  used  but  on  a  larger  scale, 
and  could  be  thrown  with  great  accuracy  for  one  hun- 
dred feet  or  more.  When  the  pot  struck  the  opposing 
ship  it  broke  open  and  the  contents  spread  out  on  the 
deck,  giving  off  a  thick,  pungent,  and  vile-smelling 
smoke  which  would  quickly  produce  complete  asphyx- 
iation if  it  was  inhaled  at  close  range.  If  the  smoking 
mass  was  left  long  enough  undisturbed  it  would  set 
fire  to  the  ship.  The  pirates  themselves  were  largely 
immune  to  this  horrible  smoke  and  under  its  cover, 
following  a  rain  of  stink-pots,  they  would  board  a  ship 
almost  unseen  and  have  her  defenders,  whom  they  al- 
ways outnumbered,  at  a  great  disadvantage  from  the 
start.  When  fighting  at  close  quarters  the  Chinese 
used  long,  curved  swords,  something  like  a  Turkish 
yataghan,  while  the  Malays  were  armed  with  the  £rese, 
a  short,  double-edged  sword  with  serrated  edges.  Both 
were  murderous  weapons  and  the  pirates  were  grad- 
uated experts  in  the  use  of  them;  in  fact,  they  pre- 
ferred their  butcher  knives  to  firearms,  for  they  were 
miserable  marksmen.  As  soon  as  an  engagement 
became  general  they  would  throw  away  their  guns 
and  pistols  and  use  their  swords,  with  both  hands, 
striking  powerful,  chopping  blows. 

[148] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

The  Malays  and  Dyaks  used  proas  or  feluccas,  light, 
strong,  low-lying  vessels  from  sixty  to  one  hundred 
feet  in  length,  from  ten  to  sixteen  feet  wide,  and  five 
or  six  feet  deep,  with  less  than  three  feet  draft.  They 
were  rigged  with  two  large  lateen  sails  and  were  very 
fast.  The  only  material  difference  between  them  was 
that  the  proas  were  supplied  with  long  sweeps  with 
which  they  could  be  driven  along  at  a  fair  rate  of 
speed  when  there  was  no  wind.  The  junks  were  used 
for  outside  work,  while  the  proas  and  feluccas  kept 
close  inshore,  seldom  going  more  than  fifteen  miles  out. 
On  account  of  their  shallow  draft  they  were  easily  hid- 
den in  the  mouths  of  rivers  and  creeks,  and  when  so 
concealed  they  could  not  be  seen  at  a  distance  of  half 
a  mile. 

It  was  this  ease  of  escape,  and  the  fact  that  unless 
they  were  caught  red-handed  conviction  was  impos- 
sible, which  combined  to  make  the  stamping  out  of 
the  pirates  such  a  tremendous  task.  The  junks 
always  carried  just  enough  cargo  to  enable  them  to 
pose,  technically,  as  peaceful  traders  and,  with  the  aid 
of  their  friends  afloat  and  ashore,  they  could  easily 
prove  an  alibi,  or  anything  else  that  was  needed. 
When  closely  pursued  by  a  suspicious  warship  and 
certain  to  be  overhauled  and  inspected,  they  would 
throw  overboard  their  surplus  of  arms  and,  if  neces- 

[149] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

sary,  any  loot  they  happened  to  have  on  board,  to 
remove  all  incriminating  evidence.  Through  an  elab- 
orate system  of  spies  the  pirate  chiefs  were  constantly 
advised  as  to  the  movements  of  the  warships  and  kept 
their  craft  as  far  away  from  them  as  possible.  Thus 
it  was  that  unless  a  cruiser  happened  along  just  as  a 
merchantman  was  being  looted,  and  her  crew  butch- 
ered, or  immediately  afterward,  the  chance  of  cap- 
turing the  scoundrels  was  remote.  Even  with  the 
large  retributive  fleet  of  cruisers  and  gunboats  that 
finally  was  established  in  those  waters,  beauteous 
and  romantic  but  thickly  dotted  with  villainous 
havens,  the  number  of  piracies  that  were  punished, 
including  the  joyous  justice  which  Norton  and  I 
meted  out,  was  trifling  when  compared  with  the  total 
of  murder  and  robbery. 

The  chief  of  a  large  section  of  the  Chinese  pirates 
was  old  Moy  Sen,  a  rich  Chinaman  who  lived  in  a 
handsome  home  in  Canton  and  posed  as  a  legitimate 
trader.  He  owned  a  large  fleet  of  junks  and  one 
steamer,  and  there  was  not  a  ship  that  left  Hong 
Kong  with  a  rich  cargo  that  he  did  not  know  all  about. 
The  evil  genius  of  the  Malays  was  a  shrewd  scoun- 
drel known  as  Leandrio,  and  he  and  Moy  Sen 
operated  under  what  would  be  known  to-day  as  a 
"gentlemen's  agreement,"  by  which  they  divided  up 

[150] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

the  territory,  in  a  general  way,  and  did  not  interfere 
with  each  other.  As  a  matter  of  fact  there  were 
practically  no  honest  trading  ships  in  that  section, 
with  the  exception  of  the  big  merchantmen  engaged 
in  the  export  trade.  All  of  the  coasting  ships  were 
either  pirates  themselves,  when  the  conditions  were 
favorable,  or  were  in  league  with  the  pirates,  to  whom 
they  carried  information  as  to  the  value  of  cargoes 
being  prepared  for  shipment  and  their  probable  date 
of  departure.  The  result  was  that  there  was  not  a 
ship,  except  the  easily  distinguished  merchantman, 
which  we  did  not  come  to  regard  as  legitimate  prey. 
Norton  argued  that  the  pirates  were  bound  to  keep 
on  robbing  and  burning  and  murdering  in  spite  of 
anything  we  could  do,  and  that  we  could  derive 
plenty  of  excitement  and  large  profits  by  robbing 
them.  Incidentally,  he  contended,  we  would  put  a 
lot  of  them  out  of  business  for  good  and  all,  thus  con- 
tributing to  the  end  desired  by  all  nations.  I  fell  in 
with  his  plan  heartily,  for,  while  I  cared  little  for  the 
money  that  was  to  be  made,  it  promised  as  lively 
adventures  as  I  could  wish  for.  It  was  arranged  that 
I  should  pose  as  Dr.  Burnet,  a  rich  English  physician 
who  was  cruising  in  his  private  yacht  for  his  health. 
To  make  it  appear  that  they  were  engaged  in  legiti- 
mate commerce,  the  "Florence"  and  "Surprise" 

[151] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

were  to  carry  some  general  cargoes  from  port  to  port 
among  the  islands  but  were  to  so  shape  their  cruises 
that  they  would  be  at  certain  fixed  points  on  or  about 
given  dates,  so  that  we  could  keep  closely  in  touch 
with  them.  They  were  to  be  given  large  crews  and 
so  heavily  armed  as  to  be  safe  from  piratical  attacks. 
The  "  Leckwith "  was  to  do  all  of  the  preying  on  the 
pirates  and  the  loot  we  took  from  them  was  to  be 
turned  over  to  the  other  ships  at  the  meeting  places. 
This  would  make  it  unnecessary  for  us  to  put  into 
port  often  as  we  could  use  our  sails  a  great  deal 
and  husband  our  coal.  This  arrangement,  and  the 
changes  which  could  quickly  be  made  in  the  rig  of  all 
the  ships,  would,  we  figured,  remove  us  from  suspi- 
cion, for  a  long  time  at  least.  Agencies  for  our  legiti- 
mate cargoes  were  established  in  Sumatra,  on  the 
island  of  Banca,  where  there  were  extensive  tin  mines, 
in  Borneo  and  Rajah  Brooke's  independent  govern- 
ment of  Sarawak  in  North  Borneo,  and  at  other  con- 
venient places.  It  was  arranged  that  the  bulk  of  our 
loot  should  be  sent  to  a  firm  of  Chinamen  at  Singa- 
pore, who  dealt  largely  in  dishonest  cargoes  but  were 
absolutely  honest  with  their  clients. 

With  the  schedules  of  the  "Florence"  and  "Sur- 
prise" established  and  with  the  "Leckwith's"  bunk- 
ers stuffed  with  coal,  we  headed  for  the  islands  in 

[152] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

search  of  pirates.  We  then  had  a  crew  of  about 
seventy-five  men,  though  at  different  times  we  had  as 
few  as  fifty  and  as  many  as  one  hundred,  independent 
of  the  "black  gang"  in  the  fire  and  engine  rooms. 
The  crews  of  the  three  ships  were  frequently  inter- 
changed, except  for  about  fifteen  especially  brave  and 
reckless  fellows  who  were  always  kept  on  the  "  Leck- 
with."  With  all  of  our  sails  set  and  in  the  guise  of  a 
trading  ship  we  sometimes  trapped  the  pirates  into 
coming  alongside  and  grappling  with  us,  which  made 
it  easy  work  for  us,  but  when  we  had  reason  to  think 
they  had  valuable  booty  on  board  we  went  at  them 
full  tilt  under  steam  and  took  it  away  from  them.  All 
of  our  guns,  which  were  always  unshipped  when  we 
went  into  port,  were  close  up  against  the  rail  and 
were  concealed  under  what  looked  like  deck  cargo, 
but  it  was  the  work  of  only  a  moment  to  cast  off  their 
covering  and  lower  a  section  of  the  bulwarks  long 
enough  to  give  them  a  wide  radius  of  action. 

Our  first  experience  was  a  profitable  one.  When 
near  the  "hunting  grounds"  we  lowered  the  smoke- 
stack, got  up  our  canvas,  and  sailed  along  awaiting 
developments.  We  were  getting  in  among  the  islands 
when  we  met  a  big  junk  which  had  just  looted  and 
scuttled  a  richly  laden  Brazilian  barkentine.  She  had 
much  more  than  enough  on  board  to  pay  her  for  one 

[153] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

trip,  but  cupidity  got  the  better  of  her  commander 
and  he  put  about  and  came  after  us,  thinking  we  were 
only  a  trading  schooner  but  might  have  something 
on  board  worth  taking.  We  made  a  pretence  of  try- 
ing to  get  away,  which  we  could  have  done,  for  the 
"  Leckwith  "  footed  fast  even  under  sail,  but  in  reality 
we  eased  our  sheets  to  hasten  matters  along.  When 
he  was  close  astern  of  us,  with  the  wind  abeam,  we 
luffed  up,  got  out  guns  ready  for  action  in  a  jiffy  and, 
as  we  crossed  his  bows,  raked  him  fore  and  aft  with 
our  carronades,  which  were  loaded  almost  to  the 
muzzle  with  slugs  and  nails.  Before  he  could  change 
his  course,  with  his  decks  littered  with  dead  and 
mangled,  we  came  about  and  gave  him  a  broadside  at 
close  quarters,  along  with  a  deadly  rifle  fire  from  the 
hitherto  unseen  members  of  the  crew  who  had  been 
concealed  in  the  'tween  decks.  He  replied  to  this 
blast  with  a  lot  of  stink-pots,  only  a  few  of  which 
came  aboard  and  were  tossed  into  the  sea  before  any 
ill  effects  were  felt  from  their  nauseating  fumes,  and 
a  weak  and  poorly  directed  fire  from  his  guns.  Taken 
completely  by  surprise  and  with  more  than  half  of 
their  number  littering  the  reddened  deck,  the  pirates 
were  panic-stricken.  Before  they  could  regain  their 
senses  we  came  about  again  and  gave  them  another 
broadside  which  took  all  the  fight  o.ut  of  them,  if 

[154] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

there  had  been  any  left,  and  put  them  at  our  mercy. 
As  we  ranged  alongside,  keeping  up  a  rifle  fire  but 
disdaining  any  further  use  of  our  guns,  they  managed 
to  launch  a  couple  of  boats  and  all  who  could  get  into 
them  pulled  for  the  nearest  island.  When  we  threw 
our  grappling  irons  and  hauled  in  on  them  the  few 
survivors  who  had  strength  enough  left  to  get  to  the 
rail  threw  themselves  overboard  and  swam  for  it. 
The  first  man  aboard  of  the  junk  had  one  of  his  legs 
almost  severed  by  the  wicked  sword  of  a  badly 
wounded  Chinaman,  and  after  that  bit  of  fiendishness 
our  men  lost  no  time  in  making  sure  that  the  rest  of 
them  were  really  dead.  We  took  out  of  the  junk  fully 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  specie,  silk, 
tea,  porcelain,  and  drugs  and  then  set  fire  to  her,  leav- 
ing her  to  bury  her  own  dead. 

After  that  easily  won  victory  we  trapped  and  sank 
half  a  dozen  proas  and  feluccas  in  the  same  way, 
though  with  more  spirited  resistance  in  some  cases, 
for  we  were  so  anxious  to  get  things  to  going 
that  we  threw  off  our  mask  before  we  had  them  at 
such  close  quarters  as  we  got  the  junk.  We  had  two 
men  killed  in  these  engagements  and  a  dozen  more 
or  less  seriously  injured.  Norton  sustained  an  ugly 
cut  on  the  leg  that  sent  him  to  the  hospital  and  I  got 
a  slash  on  the  arm  that  gave  me  considerable  trouble 

[155] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

for  a  few  days.  In  only  one  instance  did  a  ship  get 
away  from  us  and  that  was  when  two  proas  at- 
tacked us  on  either  side  in  a  dead  calm  that  settled 
before  we  could  get  steam  up.  We  could  not  change 
our  position,  while  they  manoeuvred  with  their  long 
oars  and  one  of  them  escaped,  though  she  took  a  lot 
of  dead  with  her.  We  got  nothing  from  them  to  speak 
of  but  there  was  excitement  in  extenso  and  we  gloried 
in  it.  Norton  had  not  overdrawn  the  picture  of  the 
adventurous  China  Sea. 

We  had  turned  our  cargo  over  to  the  "  Florence," 
along  with  a  number  of  wounded  men,  and  were  back 
among  the  islands,  though  outside  of  the  regular 
course  of  sailing  ships,  when  early  one  evening  a 
full-rigged  ship  hove  in  sight.  She  passed  us  but  was 
not  more  than  six  miles  away  when  we  saw  flashes 
that  told  us  she  had  been  attacked.  We  had  our  fires 
banked,  for  it  was  just  at  the  break  of  the  monsoon 
when  the  weather  is  variable  and  the  winds  uncer- 
tain, so  we  lost  no  time  in  going  to  her  assistance.  As 
we  closed  in  we  saw  a  Malay  felucca  on  each  side 
of  her  and  the  pirates  swarming  on  her  decks,  with 
the  crew  putting  up  a  brave  fight.  Running  the 
"Leckwith"  up  on  her  starboard  quarter,  we  threw 
our  men  aboard  of  her  and  they  went  at  the  pirates 
savagely  from  the  rear.  I  led  the  boarding  party  for 

[156] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

it  looked  as  though  it  would  be  one  of  the  kind  of 
fights  that  I  never  would  miss.  In  those  days  I  was 
young,  athletic,  and  vigorous  and  I  had  rather  have  a 
fight  with  death  at  one  end  of  it  than  anything  else. 
No  matter  where  I  went,  or  what  the  odds  against  us, 
I  knew  the  men  of  the  "  Leckwith "  would  be  at  my 
heels,  for  a  braver  set  of  dare-devils  never  lived. 

The  Malays  outnumbered  us  more  than  two  to  one, 
but  we  went  at  them  with  a  fury  that  was  new  to 
them,  and  were  slowly  forcing  them  back  toward 
their  one  good  boat  —  we  had  smashed  the  other  one 
to  bits  when  we  slammed  alongside  —  when  a  beau- 
tiful white  yacht  came  tearing  up  on  the  port  quarter 
and  sent  three  boatloads  of  men  to  our  assistance  in 
such  smart  style  that  I  took  her  to  be  a  gunboat, 
though  the  quick  glance  I  took  at  her  showed  her 
lines  to  be  unusually  fine  for  a  warship.  Her  party 
clambered  over  the  bows  under  command  of  a  stockily 
built  young  officer  wearing  what  looked  like  the  uni- 
form of  a  naval  captain,  and  we  had  the  pirates 
between  us.  I  understood  later,  when  I  learned  who 
and  what  they  were,  why  these  reinforcements,  in- 
stead of  discouraging  the  Malays,  caused  them  to 
fight  with  renewed  desperation.  But  they  could  not 
withstand  our  combined  rush  and  the  last  of  them 
soon  went  over  the  side  into  their  proa,  which 

[157] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

drifted  away  into  the  darkness  when  they  cut  her 
loose.  However,  in  the  last  few  minutes  of  fighting 
the  young  British  officer,  as  I  took  him  to  be,  sus- 
tained a  savage  cut  in  his  right  shoulder,  and  after  we 
had  laid  aside  our  dead  and  given  our  wounded  rough 
attention  I  was  surprised  to  receive  an  inquiry  from 
him  as  to  whether  we  had  a  surgeon  on  board.  I 
replied  that  I  was  a  surgeon  and,  taking  him  aboard 
the  "Leckwith,"  dressed  his  wound  on  the  cabin 
table.  I  then  saw  that  his  uniform  was  that  of  a 
captain,  but  not  of  a  naval  officer.  He  told  me  his 
name  was  Deverell  but  when  I  asked  him  the  name  of 
his  ship  he  answered  evasively,  and  I  had  learned  the 
ways  of  the  China  Sea  too  well  to  press  the  question. 

"Your  wound  is  rather  a  bad  one,"  I  told  him, 
"and  is  likely  to  require  further  attention.  I  am 
simply  loafing  and  expect  to  be  cruising  in  this  neigh- 
borhood for  some  time,  even  though  it  does  seem  to 
be  pretty  thick  with  pirates.  I  will  be  glad  to  have 
you  call  on  me  if  I  can  be  of  any  service  to  you." 

He  mystified  me  still  more  when  he  replied :  "  We 
know  you,  Doctor,  and  will  know  where  to  find  you  if 
it  becomes  necessary  to  take  further  advantage  of 
your  kindness." 

I  had  not  time  just  then  to  think  much  about  the 
strange  incident,  for  the  fight  had  been  a  bloody  one 

[158] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

and  there  were  many  men  who  needed  attention.  We 
had  six  men  killed  and  there  were  fully  twenty-five 
more  with  injuries  of  some  sort.  When  I  came  to 
look  myself  over  I  found  that  one  bullet  had  grazed 
the  top  of  my  head  and  another  my  chest,  while  the 
right  shoulder  of  my  jacket  had  been  sliced  off  by  a 
cut  that,  had  it  been  properly  placed,  would  have 
taken  my  arm  with  it.  My  only  injury  was  a  trifling 
flesh  wound  on  my  leg.  Had  I  been  less  of  a  fatalist 
narrow  escapes  of  that  kind,  to  which  I  grew  accus- 
tomed, might  have  affected  my  nerves,  but  instead 
they  were  only  entertaining.  It  interested  me,  in 
every  fight,  to  see  just  how  close  I  had  come  to  being 
killed,  knowing  full  well  that  death  could  not  add  my 
name  to  the  list  until  my  time  came,  and  that  then 
there  would  be  no  way  of  avoiding  it. 

When  we  got  to  clearing  up  the  decks  nearly  sixty 
dead  Malays  were  thrown  overboard.  The  merchant- 
man, which  was  an  English  bark,  had  twelve  of  her 
crew  killed  and  so  many  of  the  survivors  were  badly 
cut  up  that  only  six  men  were  fit  for  duty.  We  left 
enough  of  our  men  on  board  to  work  the  ship  and 
convoyed  her  to  within  two  hundred  miles  of  Singa- 
pore, where,  with  a  fair  wind  and  a  smooth  sea,  she 
was  able  to  proceed  without  danger.  That  episode 
netted  us  not  only  a  glorious  fight  but  a  great  reputa- 

[159] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

tion  as  the  friend  and  protector  of  honest  shipping. 
In  fact,  it  brought  us  too  much  fame,  for  when  we  put 
into  Labuan,  a  British  island  off  the  north  coast  of 
Borneo,  for  coal,  after  seeing  the  merchantman  safely 
on  her  way,  and  reported  the  incident,  we  had  to  get 
out  in  a  hurry  to  avoid  a  lot  of  innocent  questions  as 
to  who  Dr.  Burnet  was  and  where  he  came  from. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  islands  from  Labuan  we 
sighted  the  mysterious  yacht  whose  commander  I 
had  attended.  Evidently  she  was  looking  for  us  for 
she  changed  her  course  as  soon  as  she  made  us  out, 
and  sent  a  boat  alongside  with  a  request  that  I  come 
aboard,  as  the  captain  was  very  ill.  I  found  him  suf- 
fering with  surgical  fever,  as  I  had  predicted,  and  in 
rather  a  bad  way.  I  dressed  his  wound  and  treated 
him  and  stood  by  for  three  or  four  days,  visiting  him 
twice  a  day  and  returning  immediately  to  the  "  Leck- 
with,"  for  while  my  services  were  plainly  appreciated 
it  seemed  that  I  was  not  wanted  on  the  strange  ship 
any  longer  than  was  necessary.  There  was  an  air  of 
mystery  about  her  that  puzzled  and  fascinated  me. 
As  I  entered  Deverell's  cabin  on  my  first  visit  I 
thought  I  heard  the  rustle  of  a  skirt  in  the  passage- 
way behind  me.  Before  I  could  make  any  inquiry 
Deverell,  as  though  reading  my  mind,  requested  me 
to  ask  him  no  questions  about  anything  relating  to 

[160] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

the  ship.  On  my  last  visit,  when  I  told  him  he  needed 
no  further  attention,  he  said,  after  thanking  me,  "I 
am  master  here  and  I  am  not.  No  doubt  things  seem 
strange  to  you,  and  they  really  are  stranger  than  you 
think,  but  I  cannot  tell  you  more  now.  Fate  seems  to 
have  thrown  us  together,  however,  and  I  believe  we 
shall  see  more  of  each  other  and  get  better  acquainted. 
I  hope  so.  Good-bye." 

Cruising  westward  after  parting  company  with  the 
ship  of  mystery  we  ran  right  into  a  series  of  profitable 
engagements.  Four  ships  had  left  Hong  Kong  to- 
gether but  only  one  got  through.  The  booty  which 
the  pirates  took  from  the  others  we  captured  from 
them,  in  two  small  junks  and  three  large  proas,  which 
we  destroyed.  We  transferred  our  cargo  to  the 
"Florence,"  near  South  Natuna  Island,  and  stood  off 
to  the  north  while  she  headed  for  Singapore.  We 
were  three  or  four  hours  away  from  her  when  I  had  a 
strange  presentiment  that  I  should  have  stayed  with 
her.  The  feeling  was  so  strong  that  I  put  the  "  Leck- 
with"  about,  caught  up  with  her,  and  went  on  board, 
with  my  traps.  Expecting  to  have  a  lot  of  idle  time 
I  took  along  my  torpedo,  with  which  I  was  still  ex- 
perimenting. 

A  week  later  we  were  in  a  particularly  dangerous 
place,  near  where  the  Brazilian  barkentine  had  been 

[161] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

scuttled.  Late  in  the  afternoon  as  we  entered  a  narrow 
passage,  we  sighted  a  big  proa  close  to  an  island  on 
the  port  bow,  and  less  than  half  a  mile  farther  on  we 
came  on  another  one  partly  hidden  in  the  mouth  of 
a  creek  in  a  larger  island  on  the  starboard  hand. 
There  was  not  a  sign  of  life  on  either  one  of  them 
but  I  knew  their  crews  were  close  by  and  felt  that 
we  were  in  for  it.  I  was  fussing  with  the  torpedo 
when  we  came  upon  them  and  it  struck  me  that  this 
would  be  a  good  chance  to  put  it  to  the  test,  if  both 
of  them  attacked  us  at  once,  which  I  supposed  they 
would  do.  We  had  neither  fulminate  of  mercury  nor 
gun-cotton  aboard  but  I  had  been  working  to  over- 
come that  very  difficulty  and  had  arranged  the  firing 
pin  so  that  it  would  discharge  a  cartridge  into  an 
explosive  charge  of  black  powder.  We  packed  the 
chamber  with  powder,  and  filled  enough  air  cylinders  to 
keep  the  torpedo  afloat,  bent  on  a  towing  line  of  new 
manila  rope,  one  hundred  fathoms  long,  and  had 
everything  in  readiness  by  the  time  it  was  dark. 

We  kept  a  sharp  lookout  and  it  was  not  long  until 
we  heard  the  soft  chug  of  oars  off  the  starboard  bow. 
Our  whaleboat,  which  was  manned  and  waiting,  at 
once  set  off  in  a  course  which,  we  figured,  would  carry 
the  towing  line  across  the  bow  of  the  proa.  A  few 
minutes  later  we  made  out  the  other  proa  coming 

[162] 


PREYING  ON  PIRATES 

up  astern  on  the  port  side.  The  pair  of  them  got  so 
close  that  it  looked  as  though  something  had  gone 
wrong  with  my  torpedo  and  I  was  just  about  to  divide 
our  crew  to  meet  them  on  both  sides  when  there  was 
a  flash  and  a  roar  less  than  fifty  yards  away,  and  the 
complete  success  of  my  invention  was  demonstrated. 
The  proa  was  thrown  out  of  the  water,  turned  over, 
and  badly  smashed  up.  We  never  knew  how  many  of 
her  crew  were  killed  by  the  explosion  but  not  many 
could  have  escaped.  The  other  craft  swung  around 
to  board  us  but  we  riddled  it  with  full  charges  from 
the  fore  and  aft  carronades  and  it  began  to  sink.  The 
survivors  took  to  the  water  and  a  lot  of  them  attacked 
the  whaleboat,  which  had  towed  the  torpedo,  as  it  was 
making  its  way  back  to  the  ship.  The  boat's  crew 
were  prepared  for  them  and  their  heavy  cutlasses 
chopped  off  every  hand  that  grasped  the  gunwale  and 
split  open  every  head  they  could  reach. 

At  Singapore,  where  we  discharged  our  cargo,  our 
agents  reported  that  Moy  Sen  was  vowing  vengeance 
on  us  for  the  loot  we  had  wrested  from  him  and  the 
havoc  we  had  spread  among  his  fleet,  and  that  he  had 
caused  the  report  to  be  actively  circulated  at  Hong 
Kong  that  the  "Leckwith"  was  not  a  private  yacht 
but  a  pirate,  preying  on  legitimate  commerce.  As  a 
result  many  robberies  with  which  we  had  nothing 

[163] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

at  all  to  do  were  being  laid  at  our  door,  and  we  were 
advised  to  be  cautious.  We  worked  our  way  back  to 
the  rendezvous  and,  after  consulting  with  Norton, 
I  took  my  interpreter,  Ah  Fen,  who  was  half 
"Chinkie"  and  half  Malay,  from  the  "Leckwith" 
and  went  to  Hong  Kong  on  the  "  Surprise "  to  see 
just  what  was  going  on. 


[164] 


Beautiful  White  Devil,"  a  woman  pirate 
whom  I  at  first  regarded  as  a  purely  fanciful 
being,  born  of  the  unreal  atmosphere  of  the  East,  came 
into  my  life,  in  which  she  was  destined  to  play  a  most 
important  part,  at  Hong  Kong  in  the  early  days  of 
1876.  I  had  gone  there  in  search  of  authentic  in- 
formation concerning  the  attitude  and.  plans  of  old 
Moy  Sen,  overlord  of  all  the  Chinese  pirates,  who  was 
reported  to  have  declared  an  intention  to  bury  my 
harassing  ships  and  all  on  board  of  them,  in  return 
for  our  vigorous  operations  against  him.  This  threat 
had  given  a  new  interest  to  a  game  of  which  I  was 
beginning  to  tire,  for  I  had  then  been  waging  war  on 
the  pirates  for  more  than  a  year,  and  it  was  getting 
monotonous.  I  landed  quietly  at  night  from  the 
"  Surprise,"  which  remained  far  out  in  the  roadstead, 
and  went  to  the  old  Queen's  Hotel,  where  I  clung  to 
my  role  of  a  rich  English  physician,  travelling  for 
his  health,  but  assumed  a  new  name,  which  I  cannot 
recall.  My  "  Chinkie "  interpreter,  Ah  Fen,  I  sent 
on  up  to  Canton  to  secretly  gain  such  informa- 

[165] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

tion  as  he  could  pick  up  from  a  relative  in  the  camp 
of  the  boss  buccaneer  of  the  China  Sea. 

While  waiting  for  his  report  I  lounged  around  the 
hotel  and  steered  my  casual  conversation  with  the 
habitues  toward  the  subject  in  which  I  was  most 
interested.  Soon  I  began  to  hear  weird  stories  of  a 
woman  pirate  who,  while  never  molesting  honest 
merchantmen,  preyed  mercilessly  and  successfully  on 
the  Chinese  and  Malay  pirates,  just  as  Norton  and  I 
were  doing.  It  was  said  that  she  was  exquisitely 
beautiful  of  face  and  diabolically  black  of  heart ;  that 
she  led  her  band  of  cut-throats  in  person  and  gloried 
in  the  shedding  of  black  and  yellow  blood  by  the 
barrel.  Her  recreation  from  wholesale  butchery  was 
found  in  the  companionship  of  occasional  white  men 
whom  she  ran  across  and  who  gladly  accompanied 
her  to  her  retreat,  located  no  one  knew  where,  only 
to  be  killed  when  she  wearied  of  them.  According  to 
these  tales,  which  I  at  first  regarded  as  purely  imagin- 
ative, she  travelled  in  a  steam  yacht  of  phenomenal 
speed  and  had  never  failed  in  her  desperate  exploits. 
Though  she  had  been  in  the  business  for  years  no  one 
in  Hong  Kong  had  ever  seen  her  and  she  was  known 
only  as  the  "Beautiful  White  Devil,"  which  name, 
from  all  accounts,  was  well  suited  to  her.  It  occurred 
to  me  at  once  that  if  such  a  woman  really  did  exist  it 

[166] 


"THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL" 

might  have  been  her  ship  that  came  to  our  assistance 
on  the  night  of  our  battle  with  the  Malays  on  the 
deck  of  the  British  bark,  and  whose  captain  I  had 
attended  under  strange  circumstances,  and  I  saw 
visions  of  a  meeting  and  perhaps  closer  acquaintance 
with  her;  but  they  were  only  fleeting  fancies,  for  I 
could  not  make  myself  believe  the  tales  that  were 
told  me.  Not  but  what  I  wanted  to  believe  them,  and 
tried  to,  for  next  to  adventure  I  loved  a  beautiful 
woman ;  if  the  two  could  be  combined,  the  result  would 
be  an  absolutely  ideal  condition,  even  though  the 
feminine  fancy  did  run  to  murder ;  but  my  reason  told 
me  I  was  dreaming  of  the  impossible. 

However,  after  I  had  heard  the  report  of  Ah  Fen, 
who  returned  in  about  two  weeks,  bubbling  over  with 
information  and  gossip,  I  put  more  confidence  in  what 
I  had  been  told,  for  he  repeated  the  same  wild  story, 
with  elaborations  and  variations.  It  was  a  well  estab- 
lished fact  in  the  minds  of  Moy  Sen  and  his  followers, 
he  said,  that  there  actually  was  a  woman  pirate  who 
preyed  on  and  destroyed  the  regular  pirates,  and  she 
was  as  much  hated  as  we  were,  or  more,  for  she  had 
been  following  that  calling,  with  much  energy,  for 
years.  It  was  said  she  had  inherited  an  avenging  oath 
against  the  pirates  from  some  male  member  of  her 
family,  who  had  been  a  terror  to  them  before  her, 

£167] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

and  she  was  carrying  it  out  with  fanatical  fervor. 
This  was  the  story  brought  in  by  pirates  who  had 
escaped  from  junks  and  proas  she  had  attacked, 
and  who  gave  thrilling  accounts  of  her  demoniacal 
fury  in  leading  her  men.  Moy  Sen,  my  interpreter 
reported,  was  swearing  renewed  vengeance  on  both 
of  us  but,  inasmuch  as  the  lady  seemed  to  bear  a 
charmed  life,  he  proposed  to  go  after  me  first.  He 
attributed  to  me  the  destruction  of  some  of  his  junks 
that  I  had  never  seen,  while,  to  balance  accounts,  the 
robbery  of  some  of  his  ships  which  I  had  looted  was 
laid  at  the  door  of  my  woman  contemporary.  This 
convinced  me  that  there  was  a  woman  pirate,  or, 
which  I  still  believed  to  be  more  likely,  a  man  mas- 
querading as  a  woman,  and  that  the  pirate  chief  had 
confused  our  exploits.  He  was  setting  some  sort  of  a 
trap  for  me,  according  to  the  inside  gossip  picked  up 
by  Ah  Fen,  and  was  determined  to  sweep  the  sea 
clear  of  my  ships,  at  least. 

I  had  sent  the  "Surprise"  away  as  soon  as  she 
landed  me,  with  orders  to  return  in  a  month,  osten- 
sibly in  search  of  cargo,  and  pick  me  up.  She  was 
about  due  when  a  man  called  at  my  hotel  one  evening 
and  asked  if  an  English  physician  was  stopping  there. 
I  was  pointed  out  to  him  in  the  billiard  room  and  as 
he  came  toward  me  I  recognized  Captain  Deverell, 

[168] 


"  THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL  " 

but  he  was  as  formal  as  a  stranger  and  I  took  my 
cue  from  that  and  did  not  indicate  that  I  knew  him. 
He  asked  if  he  could  consult  with  me  and  I  took  him 
to  my  room,  where  he  assumed  a  much  more  cordial 
air. 

"  I  called,"  he  said,  "  to  invite  you  to  take  a  cruise 
with  me  so  that  we  may  get  better  acquainted  and  I 
can  show  you  my  appreciation  of  your  kindness  of  a 
few  weeks  ago." 

"  How  long  will  you  be  out  ?  "  I  asked. 

"A  week  or  a  month;  whatever  time  suits  your 
pleasure." 

I  did  some  quick  thinking.  If  there  was  a  woman 
pirate  it  was  her  ship  that  Deverell  commanded,  I 
was  sure.  If  I  accepted  his  invitation  I  might  go 
the  way  of  other  men  whom,  if  the  reports  I  had  heard 
were  to  be  trusted,  she  had  picked  up,  and  who  never 
returned.  Whether  she  was  a  "Devil"  or  whether 
it  was  her  ship  from  which  the  invitation  came  I  could 
not  ask  without  showing  some  apprehension  that 
would  be  impolite.  Besides,  I  had  previously  been 
requested  by  Deverell  to  ask  him  no  questions  about 
himself  or  his  ship  and  I  inferred  that  this  inhibition 
was  still  in  force ;  if  he  had  wanted  me  to  know  more 
than  he  had  indicated  he  would  have  volunteered  the 
information.  It  was  an  uncanny  proceeding,  yet  the 

[169] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

very  mystery  of  it  attracted  me  as  a  magnet  does 
steel.  Furthermore,  here  was  a  brand  new  adventure, 
right  within  my  grasp,  and  if  it  was  to  end  my  career 
then  it  was  because  my  time  had  come,  and  that  was 
all  there  was  to  it. 

With  my  thoughts  running  in  that  channel  a  deci- 
sion was  quickly  reached  and  I  told  Deverell  I  would 
be  glad  to  go  with  him.  I  packed  my  bag  and  turned 
it  over  to  a  man  whom  Deverell  summoned  from  the 
street.  Ah  Fen  was  instructed  to  watch  for  the  "  Sur- 
prise," rejoin  the  "Leckwith,"  and  report  to  Norton 
what  he  had  told  me,  and  tell  him  to  have  me  picked 
up  at  Hong  Kong  in  a  month  or  six  weeks.  Late  in 
the  evening  we  went  to  the  Bund  where  a  boat  that 
was  waiting  at  an  out-of-the-way  landing  up  near 
the  native  quarter  took  us  out  to  the  ship,  which  was 
lying  fully  six  miles  offshore,  well  beyond  the  usual 
anchorage.  It  was  the  same  ship  I  had  seen  several 
times  before  but  her  rig  had  been  so  altered,  by  tak- 
ing the  rake  out  of  her  stack  and  shortening  her  spars, 
and  by  changing  her  upper  works,  that  I  could  not 
have  recognized  her  if  I  had  seen  her  under  any  other 
conditions.  Her  sides  were  discolored  and  dirty,  due 
to  the  skilful  use  of  paint,  and  she  looked  like  an  old 
tramp.  But  on  board  of  her  were  all  the  comforts 
and  conveniences  of  a  yacht,  with  the  discipline  of  a 

[170] 


"THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL" 

warship.  She  was  about  the  size  of  the  "  Leckwith," 
registering  probably  five  hundred  tons  net,  and  with 
the  removal  of  her  dummy  superstructure  which  con- 
cealed six  carronades,  her  deck  was  clear,  except  for 
the  wheelhouse  and  the  captain's  room  behind  it. 
The  gun  deck  below  was  devoted  entirely  to  living 
quarters  arranged  with  an  eye  to  comfort.  Those  for 
the  crew  ran  back  to  amidships,  for  she  carried  all  of 
a  hundred  men.  Abaft  of  them  were  the  officers' 
quarters  and  in  the  stern,  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
ship,  were  the  rooms  of  the  real  commander,  which 
were  large  and  sumptuously  furnished. 

As  soon  as  we  were  on  board  it  was  "Up  anchor 
and  full  speed  to  sea."  Appropriately  enough,  I  was 
given  the  cabin  of  the  surgeon,  who  had  died  recently, 
to  which  fact  I  owed  my  presence  on  the  ship.  Dev- 
erell  took  me  into  his  room  and  we  talked  until 
midnight.  Soon  after  we  got  under  way  he  satisfied 
my  silent  impatience  by  throwing  open  a  panel  and 
exposing  a  life-size  painting  of  the  most  beautiful 
woman  I  had  ever  seen. 

"  Is  that  the  Beautiful  White  Devil  ? "  I  asked, 
unable  longer  to  restrain  the  questions  that  were 
choking  me. 

"  That  is  our  Queen,"  he  replied  gravely,  "  and  it  is 
[171] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

by  that  name  alone  that  she  is  known  to  us  and 
spoken  of  on  this  ship." 

"She  certainly  is  entitled  to  the  first  part  of  the 
name  by  which  she  is  known  ashore,  whether  or  not 
she  deserves  the  last  section  of  it,"  I  said,  with  open 
admiration. 

His  answer  left  no  doubt  as  to  whose  ship  I  was  on. 
"That  picture  may  do  partial  justice  to  her  face  but 
it  is  impossible  that  it  could  portray  the  beauty  of  her 
heart.  Instead  of  being  cold-blooded  and  blood- 
thirsty, as  you  seem  to  have  heard,  she  is  tender  and 
sympathetic  and  she  has  devoted  a  great  part  of  her 
money  to  the  relief  of  suffering  humanity.  She  depre- 
cates killing  even  villainous  Malays  and  Chinks,  but 
she  will  not  be  defeated,  cost  what  it  will.  Never 
since  I  joined  the  ship  have  I  seen  a  wanton  act  of 
cruelty." 

"  What  is  her  life,  and  what  is  the  motive  of  it  ?  " 
I  asked. 

"  She  will  have  to  tell  you  that  herself,  but  before 
you  see  her  I  want  to  warn  you.  Every  man  who 
sees  the  Queen  falls  in  love  with  her,  and  if  you  think 
you  are  going  to  be  like  the  rest  you  had  better  go 
over  the  side  right  now." 

"How  is  one  to  keep  from  falling  in  love  with 
[172] 


"  THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL  " 

her  ?  "  I  inquired,  with  some  anxiety,  still  lost  in  ad- 
miration of  the  lovely  face  on  the  canvas. 

"  If  one  philosophizes  and  keeps  his  love  to  himself 
it  is  all  right,  but  this  lady  is  not  to  be  won  by  any 
man.  She  has  devoted  her  life  to  a  particular  pur- 
pose and  we  have  devoted  our  lives  to  her." 

"That  sounds  very  romantic  and  interesting,"  I 
observed,  already  half  suspicious  that  Deverell  him- 
self was  in  love  with  her.  "  What  is  the  special  pur- 
pose to  which  you  are  all  pledged  ?  " 

A  shrug  of  the  shoulders  and  a  smile  made  up  the 
only  answer. 

Deverell  then  closed  the  panel  and  made  me  the 
subject  of  conversation.  He  asked  all  manner  of 
questions  about  my  life,  and  when  I  brought  the  story 
down  to  the  China  Sea  he  showed  a  familiarity  with 
my  movements  which  indicated  a  system  of  spies  that 
aroused  my  admiration,  and  I  was  free  in  expressing 
it.  It  was  through  their  elaborate  system,  he  ad- 
mitted, that  they  had  learned  I  was  in  Hong  Kong 
and  where  I  was  stopping.  He  admitted,  too,  that 
they  had  been  in  touch  with  me  from  the  day  I  en- 
tered their  waters  and  had  come  to  regard  me  as  a 
kindred  soul,  to  which  fact  I  owed  my  invitation  from 
their  Queen. 

It  was  considerably  after  eight  bells  before  I  retired 
[173] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

but  my  sleep  was  not  long  or  heavy,  for  the  strange- 
ness of  the  situation  and  its  possibilities  impressed 
me,  not  with  fear  but  with  exultant  expectancy.  At 
breakfast  time  D  ever  ell,  wearing  a  smart  uniform, 
escorted  me  aft  to  the  private  quarters  of  the  Queen, 
which  reminded  me  of  those  of  an  officer  of  flag  rank 
in  the  American  Navy.  They  had  the  same  private 
galley  and  air  of  exclusiveness  of  a  flagship,  but  they 
were  much  more  spacious  and  were  fitted  out  with  a 
daintiness  that  bespoke  generations  of  culture.  The 
dining-room  was  a  reproduction  in  miniature  of  those 
one  finds  in  the  best  homes  of  England,  with  nothing 
about  it  to  suggest  the  sea.  Back  of  it  and  separated 
from  it  by  odd  Chinese  curtains,  was  a  luxurious 
lounging  room,  with  large  ports  cut  through  the  over- 
hang. On  one  side  of  it  was  the  Queen's  sitting-room 
and  library,  and  on  the  other  her  boudoir. 

I  was  ushered  into  the  dining-room  and  in  a 
moment  the  Queen  appeared.  As  she  parted  the  cur- 
tains and  paused  for  just  an  instant  in  the  doorway 
with  an  air  of  diffidence,  I  was  transfixed  by  her 
marvellous  beauty,  to  which,  as  D  ever  ell  had  said,  the 
painted  picture  had  done  only  partial  justice.  Tall, 
and  with  the  figure  and  the  manner  of  a  goddess,  I 
was  fascinated  by  her  eyes,  deep  blue  and  filled  with 
sentiment  and  sympathy;  eyes  that  could  never  be 

[174] 


brutal  but  which  must  yearn  for  love  and  tenderness ; 
not  the  eyes  of  a  woman  born  to  command,  for  there 
was  a  softness  about  them  that  was  almost  pleading, 
but  of  one  created  with  a  desire  to  be  herself  com- 
manded and  dominated  by  a  stronger  nature. 
Through  them  she  looked  at  me  as  a  child  might 
look,  but  with  more  of  understanding,  yet  as  much  of 
curiosity.  Unconfined,  her  hair,  when  I  saw  it,  would 
have  swept  the  floor,  but  it  was  twisted  into  a  great 
black,  glistening  crown;  a  little  detail  that  made  her 
appear  more  than  ever  the  Queen. 

Deverell  started  to  introduce  me  but  she  inter- 
rupted him.  "  I  already  know  Dr.  Burnet,"  she  said, 
as  she  swept  toward  me  with  superb  grace  and  in- 
finite charm  of  manner  and  extended  her  hand,  small 
and  soft. 

"And  I  feel  that  I  already  know  you"  was  a 
blunder  into  which  her  eyes  led  me. 

Instantly  the  look  of  animation  which  had  come 
into  her  wonderful  eyes  gave  way  to  one  of  sadness. 
"But  I  fear,"  she  said,  "that  the  reports  you  have 
heard  regarding  me  are  very  different  from  those  I 
have  had  concerning  you,  and  which  caused  me  to 
want  to  meet  you,  that  I  might  thank  you  for  your 
kindness  to  Captain  Deverell." 

I  stumbled  into  another  tactless  reply:  "I  have 
[175] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

only  one  fault  to  find  with  what  I  have  been  told. 
You  should  be  known  as  'The  Beautiful  White 
Angel. ' '  It  was  not  a  polite  thing  to  say  but  I  was 
hopelessly,  almost  heedlessly,  in  love,  and  it  always 
has  been  my  way  to  go  straight  at  things. 

Her  answer,  only  through  her  eyes,  that  if  I  was 
not,  in  fact,  a  very  ordinary  individual  I  had  made  a 
very  commonplace  remark,  so  added  to  my  embar- 
rassment that  we  had  talked  about  the  weather  and 
the  sea  for  some  time  before  I  got  back  to  my  mooring 
and  felt  reasonably  secure.  Before  breakfast  was 
over  we  were  getting  along  better,  though  I  could 
not  have  concealed  the  admiration  I  did  not  express. 
At  the  end  of  the  meal  the  Queen  and  I  retired  to 
the  lounging  room,  Deverell  going  forward  to  look 
after  the  ship.  His  attitude  toward  her  was  one  of 
devotion  that  amounted  almost  to  homage,  which  she 
accepted  as  her  right,  and  he  spoke  of  and  to  her  only 
as  "Queen."  Naturally,  I  addressed  her  in  the  same 
way,  as  that  was  the  only  name  Deverell  had  used 
when  he  started  to  introduce  me,  and  I  then  knew  her 
by  no  other. 

"  We  are  headed  for  my  retreat,"  she  explained.  "  I 
want  you  to  see  it,  and  your  visit  there  will  give  us  an 
opportunity  to  get  better  acquainted.  I  should  like  to 
have  you  stay  with  us  as  long  as  you  can.  I  will  put 

[176] 


"THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL" 

you  down  in  Hong  Kong  or  Singapore  on  three  or 
four  days'  notice." 

I  assured  her  the  prospect  was  delightful.  With  a 
bow  and  a  smile  that  encouraged  veritable  loquacity 
she  asked  me  to  tell  her  all  about  myself,  and  she 
displayed  so  much  interest  in  my  different  filibuster- 
ing expeditions,  and  the  adventures  that  grew  out  of 
them,  that  I  gradually  told  her  the  whole  story. 
When  my  recital  brought  me  to  the  China  Sea  her 
interest  became  even  more  lively,  as  to  details,  but 
she  displayed  the  same  intimate  knowledge  of  my 
movements,  in  a  general  way,  that  Deverell  had 
shown. 

In  the  course  of  the  numerous  long  talks  which 
followed,  I  felt  that  I  was  regaining  some  of  the 
ground  I  had  lost  by  my  blunders  in  my  first  bewil- 
derment, and  though  my  infatuation  grew  stronger 
every  time  I  was  in  her  magnetic  presence,  which 
charged  my  whole  being  with  the  electrical  energy 
of  life  at  its  best,  I  said  not  another  word  to  her 
about  it,  on  the  ship.  As  we  came  to  understand 
each  other  better  she  asked  me  to  tell  her  all  I  had 
heard  about  her.  I  was  surprised,  but  I  knew  she 
meant  me  to  be  perfectly  frank  with  her,  so  I 
repeated,  in  a  general  way,  the  vague  and  vapory 
whisperings  as  to  her  wonderful  beauty,  on  the  one 

[177] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

hand,  and  her  alleged  bloodthirstiness  and  wanton- 
ness on  the  other,  which  latter  stories,  I  told  her, 
could  not  be  tolerated  for  an  instant  by  any  one  who 
had  ever  seen  her.  She  smiled  bitterly. 

"I  never  have  cared  what  people  said  or  thought 
of  me,"  she  said  very  slowly,  "until  recently.  Far 
from  enjoying  the  life  I  have  been  compelled  to  lead, 
I  have  suffered  from  it.  It  has  been  hard,  and  I 
have  had  to  face  and  solve  its  problems  alone.  Crav- 
ing friendship  as  flowers  do  the  sun,  and  needing  it 
as  much,  I  have  had  to  cut  myself  off  from  the  world 
and  try  to  make  myself  believe  that  I  have  neither 
heart  nor  conscience.  When  we  get  home  I  will  tell 
you  the  story  of  my  life,  as  you  have  told  me  yours." 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  out  from  Hong 
Kong  we  ran  into  a  group  of  islands,  off  to  the  east- 
ward of  the  regular  course  to  Singapore.  Just  as 
dinner  was  announced  a  flag  was  waved  from  the 
bridge  and,  following  Deverell's  eyes,  I  made  out  an 
answering  signal  on  the  steep  side  of  a  small  island 
just  ahead  of  us.  We  were  close  inshore  and  I 
scanned  the  bank  closely  but  could  see  no  sign  of 
either  a  landing  or  an  opening.  I  was  anxious  to  see 
what  was  to  follow  but  a  messenger  brought  word  that 
the  Queen  was  waiting  dinner  for  me.  Deverell  did 
not  dine  with  us  but  joined  us  as  we  were  having 

[178] 


"THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL" 

coffee.  The  ship  slowed  down  while  we  were  at  din- 
ner and  finally  the  screw  stopped.  Immediately  the 
Queen  led  the  way  to  the  deck,  where  she  had  ordered 
coffee  served. 

"This,"  she  said  at  the  head  of  the  stairway,  "is 
my  kingdom  —  without  a  king.  Is  n't  it  beautiful?  " 

I  was  a  little  in  doubt  as  to  whether  her  inquiry 
related  to  the  scenery  or  the  absence  of  a  male  ruler, 
but,  without  being  able  to  distinguish  clearly  in  the 
gathering  tropic  darkness,  I  assured  her  that  it  was 
the  most  beautiful  place  I  had  ever  seen,  wherein, 
when  day  dawned,  I  found  I  had  not  exaggerated. 
We  were  at  the  head  of  an  oval  lake,  perhaps  a  mile 
and  a  half  long,  with  mountains,  whose  ascent  began 
close  to  the  shore,  rising  crescent-shaped  around  it. 
There  was  a  small  village,  composed  of  English  cot- 
tages and  native  huts,  at  the  end  of  the  lake  nearest 
to  us.  On  three  sides  of  the  lake  was  a  narrow  beach, 
which  widened  at  the  village ;  the  fourth  side,  toward 
the  sea,  was  a  perpendicular  bluff,  sixty  feet  or  more 
high.  I  searched  it  for  the  passage  through  which 
we  had  entered  the  lake  but  nothing  could  I  see  but 
a  bare  wall  of  dark  rock.  The  Queen  watched  me 
as  I  studied  the  situation  and  smiled  at  my  perplex- 
ity. "Wait  until  to-morrow,"  she  laughed.  "It 
would  never  do  to  let  you  into  all  of  our  secrets  at 

[179] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

once.     You   had    best    retire    early,   for   we   will    go 
ashore  at  sunrise,"  and  she  disappeared. 

While  we  had  been  talking  the  topmasts  were 
lowered,  which  I  did  not  quite  understand,  and  the 
fires  drawn,  and  soon  I  was  alone  on  deck,  with  a 
solitary  watchman  forward.  There  was  no  moon  but 
under  the  soft  light  of  the  stars,  low-hung  and  with 
a  brilliancy  seen  only  at  or  near  the  equator,  I  sat 
in  silent  wonder  and  admiration  for  hours.  I  was 
up  again  before  it  was  full  daylight  and  watched  the 
lowering  of  the  Queen's  launch.  She  appeared  with 
the  sun,  accompanied  by  a  Dyak  woman  whom  I  had 
not  seen  before,  and  we  landed  at  a  little  stone  dock 
in  front  of  the  village.  All  of  the  inhabitants,  con- 
sisting of  about  fifty  English  and  Scotch  men  and 
women,  some  with  silvered  locks  and  bent  backs, 
and  some  of  them  crippled  by  the  pirates,  and  nearly 
as  many  natives,  crowded  the  pier  to  meet  her,  their 
manner  one  of  the  greatest  affection  and  deference. 
We  walked  through  the  village,  which  was  a  model  of 
neatness,  and  on  up  a  winding  path  for  nearly  a  mile, 
when  a  sharp  turn  around  a  flank  of  the  mountain 
brought  us  to  a  large  bungalow  —  the  palace  of  the 
Queen.  It  was  so  situated  that  it  could  not  be  seen 
from  the  sea,  at  any  point,  but  just  around  the  turn 
and  not  fifty  yards  from  the  house  was  a  deep  shad- 

[180] 


"THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL" 

owed  bower  from  which  there  was  a  clear  view  of 
the  ocean  for  two-thirds  of  the  way  around  the  com- 
pass. This  was  the  outside  sitting-room  of  the 
Queen  and  here  breakfast  was  served.  While  it  was 
being  prepared  she  made  herself  more  beautiful  by 
changing  her  dress  of  European  style  for  a  native 
costume  of  flowing  silk  so  becoming  that  I  wondered 
at  her  ever  wearing  anything  else. 

After  breakfast  she  looked  down  at  the  little  town 
and  far  out  to  sea  in  silence  for  a  long  time,  and  then 
told  me  the  gtory  of  her  life.  Her  name,  she  said,  was 
Katherine  Crofton.  Her  father  was  one  of  the 
younger  branches  of  a  family  which  was  headed  by  a 
Baron.  The  family  crest  was  a  sheaf  of  wheat  and 
the  motto  "  God  grants  the  increase."  Her  branch 
of  the  family  had  lived  in  the  south  of  Ireland  for 
several  generations.  Another  branch  had  long  lived 
at  Deny  Willow  in  the  County  Leitrim.  Her  father 
was  a  lieutenant  commander  in  the  British  Navy 
and  to  prevent  an  accident  he  disobeyed  the  order  of 
an  incompetent  and  arrogant  superior  officer.  In  a 
quarrel  that  followed  her  father  knocked  his  superior 
down  and  otherwise  abused  him,  for  which  he  was 
court-martialled  and  dismissed. 

"  My  father  was  a  high-spirited  man,"  she  con- 
tinued, "and  his  disgrace  embittered  him  against 

[181] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

England  and  everything  English.  He  soon  left  home, 
without  saying  where  he  was  going,  and  when  we 
next  heard  from  him  he  was  in  Hong  Kong.  He  cor- 
responded with  us  regularly  after  that  and  in  three 
or  four  years,  when  I  was  about  fifteen,  he  wrote 
mother  and  me  to  take  a  P  &  O  ship  for  Singapore, 
where  we  would  find  further  instructions.  When  we 
got  there  father  was  waiting  for  us  on  a  handsome 
yacht,  the  'Queen,'  which  is  the  ship  that  you  have 
heard  so  much  about.  I  am  still  using  her.  He 
brought  us  to  this  island,  which  he  had  fitted  out  as 
a  retreat.  He  had  established  a  small  settlement 
down  on  the  lake  and  built  a  warehouse  in  which  to 
store  his  goods,  and  a  machine  shop  to  facilitate 
repairs  to  his  ship.  He  had  taken  great  pains  and 
put  himself  to  a  large  expense  to  make  his  rendezvous 
secure  from  intrusion  or  discovery. 

"  Evidently  this  lake  is  in  the  crater  of  an  old  vol- 
cano which,  when  it  subsided,  left  a  high,  narrow  bar- 
rier between  it  and  its  old  enemy,  the  sea.  Down 
there,"  pointing  to  the  end  of  the  lake  opposite  the 
village,  "was  a  narrow  opening  into  the  lake,  with  a 
deep  channel  leading  straight  out  to  sea,  though  on 
both  sides  of  it  are  rocks  and  shoals.  Probably  it  was 
a  fissure  created  by  the  volcano ;  anyway  it  served  my 
father's  purpose  perfectly.  He  had  the  opening 

[182] 


"  THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL  " 

closed  up  with  rocks  until  it  was  just  wide  enough  to 
admit  the  'Queen.'  The  ridge  there,  you  can  see,  is 
not  more  than  thirty-five  or  forty  feet  high,  so  the 
partial  closing  of  the  gap  was  really  not  such  a  dif- 
ficult task.  Then  he  fitted  into  the  opening  that  was 
left,  a  great  double  gate,  which  rolls  back  and  forth, 
instead  of  opening  outward,  and  though  it  weighs 
many  tons  its  mechanism  is  so  arranged  that  four 
men  can  operate  it.  The  gate  is  strong  enough  to 
stand  any  storm  but  to  avoid  straining  it  we  keep  it 
open  in  heavy  weather,  unless  ships  are  hovering 
about.  From  a  watch  tower  on  top  of  the  mountain 
behind  us  we  get  a  clear  view  of  the  sea  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  a  man  is  always  on  duty  there.  The  ridge 
that  cuts  off  the  ocean  rises  toward  the  upper  end  of 
the  lake  and  the  village  is  entirely  hidden  behind  it, 
as  is  the  '  Queen '  when  her  topmasts  are  housed. 
Th«  island,  as  you  can  see,  is  very  small  and  from 
the  sea  there  is  not  a  sign  to  indicate  that  it  is  inhab- 
ited. When  the  gate  at  the  opening  into  the  lake  is 
closed  it  cannot  be  distinguished  at  a  distance  of  an 
eighth  of  a  mile,  for  it  exactly  resembles  the  rocks 
on  both  sides  of  it,  but  the  channel  which  leads  to  it 
is  known  to  no  one  save  us  and  no  other  ship  would 
dare  to  venture  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  shore 
on  account  of  the  rocks. 

[183] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

"I  did  not  understand  at  first  the  meaning  of  all 
of  these  precautions,  or  some  other  things.  Father 
went  out  on  frequent  voyages  and  returned  with  more 
or  less  cargo,  which  was  placed  in  the  warehouse,  until 
it  was  full.  Then  father  would  change  the  appear- 
ance of  his  ship  so  that  no  one  would  know  her  and 
take  cargoes  out  and  sell  them,  until  the  warehouse 
was  empty  again.  He  always  took  mother  and  me 
along  on  these  trips,  though  never  on  the  others,  and 
young  as  I  was  I  learned  much  about  navigation,  for 
I  had  his  love  for  the  sea.  On  these  trips  we  brought 
back  books  and  magazines  and  so  were  able  to  keep  a 
little  in  touch  with  the  outside  world. 

"  When  I  was  not  much  older  than  nineteen  father 
and  mother  were  taken  desperately  ill  and,  believing 
that  he  would  not  recover,  he  called  me  into  his  room 
and  made  a  confession.  He  said  that  in  his  hatred  of 
the  British  he  had  turned  pirate  and  had  been  for  all 
those  years  preying  on  ships  flying  the  flag  he 
despised.  He  had  also,  occasionally,  waged  war  on 
the  native  pirates  and  taken  their  loot  from  them, 
which  explained  why  he  had  frequently  come  in  with 
wounded  men  on  board.  He  told  me  of  how  he  had 
suffered  from  the  act  of  injustice  which  expelled  him 
from  the  navy  and  in  the  end  he  made  me  swear  that 
if  he  died  I  would  continue  the  work  he  had  begun. 

[184] 


"THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL" 

He  told  me  I  could  rely  on  Frank  Deverell,  his  chief 
officer,  whom  he  said  he  hoped  I  would  some  day 
marry,"  —  this  last  with  just  a  trace  of  sarcasm.  "  My 
father  died  the  next  week  and  my  mother  three 
months  later. 

"That  was  four  years  ago.  I  have  kept  the  oath 
which  my  love  for  my  father  prompted  me  to  take, 
but  the  fulfilment  of  it  has  brought  me  increasing 
misery.  My  attacks  on  the  British  flag  have  been 
few  —  in  fact  I  have  given  timely  assistance  to  many 
more  English  ships  than  I  have  robbed,  and  hundreds 
of  their  passengers  and  sailors  owe  their  lives  to  me, 
but  I  have  preyed  on  the  natural  pirates  of  these 
waters  as  ardently,  perhaps,  as  did  my  father.  Yet  I 
have  no  greater  moral  right  to  take  from  them  what 
they  have  stolen  than  I  have  to  rob  a  British  or  an 
American  ship,  nor  can  I  excuse  myself  for  the  loss 
of  life  that  goes  with  my  attacks  on  them.  I  am 
much  better  armed  than  they  are  and  it  is  nothing 
but  cowardice,  as  well  as  thievery,  for  me  to  make 
war  on  them.  I  am,  in  fact,  no  better  than  they  are, 
for  I  am  in  the  same  class  with  them  —  a  pirate.  My 
conscience  has  troubled  me  more  and  more  until  it 
has  sickened  me  with  the  whole  wretched  business. 
A  bad  promise  is  better  broken  than  kept;  an  oath 
is  no  more  than  a  promise;  and  I  am  about  ready  to 

[185] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

quit  all  of  this  robbery  and  butchery  and  try  to  return 
to  decency  and  civilization.  As  to  the  other  stories 
you  have  heard  about  me  —  they  are  simply  lies." 

Toward  the  end  she  spoke  rapidly  and  passionately 
and  when  she  finished  she  was  all  a-quiver,  and  her 
eyes  filled  with  tears.  After  a  long  pause,  during 
which  she  regained  control  of  herself,  she  said: 

"Now,  Captain,  I  have  told  you  all.  I  am  partly 
justified,  if  such  a  vow  as  mine  can  be  pleaded  as  jus- 
tification, but  why  are  you  in  this  business  ?  " 

Her  sudden  inquiry,  following  her  bitter  denuncia- 
tion of  pirates  and  those  who  preyed  on  them,  sur- 
prised and  embarrassed  me.  I  told  her  that  I  was  in 
it  only  because  of  the  adventure  of  it;  that  I  had 
been  attracted  to  the  China  Sea  by  Norton's  stories, 
and  that  once  there  I  had  naturally  fallen  in  with  the 
exciting  life  and  become  a  part  of  it;  and  that  all  of 
my  fighting  blood  was  aroused  and  my  soul  glorified 
by  the  fact  that  the  great  pirate  chief  had  sworn  to 
crush  me. 

"That  is  not  a  sufficient  excuse,"  she  replied, 
promptly  and  decisively.  "  I  had  some  reason  for  my 
actions,  but  you  have  none."  A  moment  later  she 
added,  gently :  "  I  did  not  mean  to  pass  judgment  on 
you,  for  I  have  no  right  to  do  that.  We  must  all  be 
governed  by  our  own  consciences." 

[186] 


"THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL" 

Neither  one  of  us  cared  to  continue  the  conversa- 
tion and  I  was  glad  when  she  suggested  that  she 
would  have  a  servant  show  me  to  a  smaller  bungalow, 
a  short  distance  away,  where  I  was  to  stay,  though 
taking  my  meals  at  the  "  palace."  She  advised  a  walk 
through  the  village  and  around  the  lake  during  the 
forenoon,  and  said  we  would  walk  toward  the  top  of 
the  mountain  after  lunch.  I  looked  over  my  com- 
fortable quarters  and  then  walked  back  to  the  lake 
and  went  in  a  boat,  with  Deverell  and  Fennell,  the 
"  Queen's  "  second  officer,  to  the  entrance,  in  which  I 
was  much  interested.  I  found  it  to  be  just  as  it  had 
been  described.  There  were  two  gates,  one  on  each 
side,  about  twenty-five  feet  high,  above  low  water, 
and  fifteen  feet  wide.  They  ran  on  small  wheels  in 
grooves  cut  in  the  solid  rock  and  had  been  put  in 
place,  evidently,  by  building  a  cofferdam  around  the 
entrance.  Below  the  water  line  they  were  built  of 
heavy  iron  lattice  work,  so  as  to  give  the  tides  free 
ingress  and  egress.  Above  the  water  they  were  con- 
structed of  thick  timbers,  covered  on  the  seaward  side 
with  iron  plates.  When  they  were  open  they  ran 
back  into  nests  cut  into  granite  rock.  When  they 
were  closed  they  came  together  diagonally,  in  the 
shape  of  a  wide  V,  with  the  apex  facing  outward,  so 
that  the  action  of  the  waves  only  locked  them  more 

[187] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

firmly.  It  was  possible  for  two  men  to  operate  each 
gate,  though  six  made  quicker  work  of  it.  Their  con- 
struction was  as  fine  a  piece  of  elusive  engineering 
as  I  have  ever  seen.  Their  height  was  so  arranged 
that  there  was  no  break  in  the  coast  line  and  they 
were,  as  the  Queen  had  said,  indistinguishable  at  a 
very  short  distance.  There  was  just  room  enough 
over  the  sill  to  admit  the  "  Queen  "  at  low  tide,  and 
a  larger  ship  could  not  have  gotten  through  the  gates 
or  over  the  bar. 

I  told  Deverell  enough  to  make  him  understand, 
without  my  saying  so,  that  the  Queen  had  told  me 
her  life  story,  and,  knowing  this,  he  talked  quite 
freely.  From  what  he  said  I  satisfied  myself  that  not 
only  had  the  elder  Crofton  been  an  out-and-out  pirate 
but  his  bewitching  daughter  had  done  honor  to  his 
name,  for  two  or  three  years  at  least.  We  visited  the 
machine  shop,  which  was  quite  elaborately  fitted  up 
for  the  repair  of  ship  and  guns,  and  walked  through 
the  village,  where  he  pointed  out  men  who  had  lost 
arms  or  legs  in  the  service  of  the  Queen  and  her 
father,  and  others  who  had  been  retired  for  age  and 
were  now  pensioners.  Deverell  was  a  true  pirate  and 
told  me  with  delight  of  some  of  their  exploits.  His 
reverence  for  the  Queen  amounted  to  idolatry.  If  his 
love  for  her  had  been  returned  I  would  not  have  been 

[188] 


"  THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL  " 

surprised  for,  though  lacking  some  of  the  finer 
instincts  of  a  gentleman,  as  could  well  be  imagined 
from  his  surroundings  for  years,  he  was  an  unusually 
likable  chap  and  of  a  type  that  ordinarily  appeals 
strongly  to  women.  He  was  about  forty  years  old, 
two  inches  less  than  six  feet  tall,  and  had  the  figure 
of  an  Apollo.  His  steel  gray  eyes  sparkled  with 
friendship  or  shot  sparks,  and  his  brown  hair  fairly 
bristled  when  he  was  angry.  He  impressed  one  as 
being  altogether  a  man,  the  soul  of  loyalty,  a  perfect 
friend,  and  brave  to  the  last  drop  of  his  blood. 

After  luncheon  the  Queen  and  I  set  off  toward  the 
mountain  top,  nearly  one  thousand  feet  above  us,  but 
we  did  not  reach  it,  for  the  heat  was  intense. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  us  now  ?  "  she  asked, 
on  our  way  down,  after  I  had  told  her  how  I  had 
spent  the  forenoon. 

"I  think  enough  of  you  to  devote  my  whole  life 
to  your  service,"  I  quickly  replied. 

She  gave  me  a  long,  searching  look,  that  seemed  to 
go  right  through  me  and  lay  my  whole  soul  open 
before  her,  then  took  the  lead  and,  without  a  word, 
walked  rapidly  on  to  her  bungalow,  and  I  walked  on 
to  mine. 

When  I  came  back  to  dinner  she  was  waiting  for 
me  in  her  bower.  As  she  came  to  meet  me  and 

[189] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

extended  her  hand  she  said,  earnestly  and  almost 
sadly,  "  I  believe  you  were  honest  and  sincere  in  what 
you  said  this  afternoon,  but  I  can  only  say  'Thank 
you.'  What  you  suggested  is  impossible." 

In  the  three  weeks  that  followed  I  urged  my  love 
upon  her  with  all  of  my  determination  but  she  refused 
to  change  her  decision  and  apparently  was  as  firm  in 
it  as  at  first.  It  was  agreed  that  we  should  both 
give  up  piracy,  in  any  form,  but  all  of  our  argu- 
ments ended  there  until  finally,  one  afternoon  as  we 
sat  looking  out  over  the  sea  and  talking,  for  once, 
of  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  she  said,  slowly  and 
emphatically,  "  Deverell  was  my  father's  right-hand- 
man.  I  am  going  to  give  this  place  to  him,  just  as  it 
stands,  take  the  next  ship  for  England,  lay  my  case 
before  the  Home  Secretary  and  ask  him  for  a  full  par- 
don. I  will  confess  to  him  that  I  have  taken  from 
the  pirates  what  they  had  stolen  from  others.  To 
offset  the  offence  I  have  hundreds  of  written  state- 
ments from  people  whose  lives  I  have  saved  from  the 
pirates  by  coming  up  in  the  nick  of  time,  for  which 
service  I  never  accepted  payment  of  any  kind.  I 
believe  I  can  secure  a  pardon  and  if  I  do,  I  will  meet 
you,  with  a  clear  conscience,  and  become  your  wife." 

In  a  tumult  of  joy,  which  came  over  me  with  the 
force  of  an  electric  shock,  I  sprang  to  her  side  and 

[190] 


"THE  BEAUTIFUL  WHITE  DEVIL" 

started  to  take  her  in  my  arms,  but  she  stretched  out 
her  hand  and  held  me  off.  I  had  never  seen  such  a 
serious  look  on  her  exquisite  face  and  there  were  tears 
in  her  eyes. 

"Not  yet,"  she  said,  tenderly  but  firmly.  "I  have 
said  I  would  marry  you  only  when  my  name  had 
been  cleared  of  its  dishonor,  and  until  that  condition 
has  been  complied  with  you  cannot  regard  me  as 
your  promised  wife.  After  that  you  may  do  with  me 
as  you  please,  but  not  until  then." 

Her  accession  of  conscience  had  been  so  great  that 
she  considered  herself  disgraced,  and  that  nothing 
short  of  a  pardon  from  the  British  Government,  so 
bitterly  hated  by  her  father,  could  restore  her  respect- 
ability. With  my  most  persuasive  arguments  I  tried 
to  dissuade  her  from  going  to  England,  but  without 
effect.  I  urged  her  to  marry  me  at  once  and  go  with 
me  to  America  or  some  other  country,  where  we 
would  not  be  reminded  of  the  past  and  have  nothing 
to  fear  from  it,  but  she  would  not  listen.  She  feared 
she  would  be  found  and  arrested  later  on  and  bring 
dishonor  on  me;  she  seemed  to  have  no  thought  of 
herself  in  that  respect,  and,  seeing  that,  I  better 
understood  the  depth  of  her  great  love. 

No  argument  of  mine  could  change  her  and  there 
was  nothing  to  do  but  fall  in  with  her  plan.  She 

[191] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

packed  up  the  most  treasured  of  her  personal  effects, 
paid  a  last  visit  to  the  graves  of  her  father  and 
mother,  and  two  days  later  we  sailed  away.  Just 
before  going  on  board  she  summoned  the  villagers 
to  the  empty  warehouse  and  told  them  she  had  given 
all  of  her  property  to  Deverell  and  was  going  away, 
never  to  return.  They  wept  and  showed  great  dis- 
tress, but  Kate  was  quietly  happy  and  her  glorious 
eyes  were  firm  and  undimmed  as  they  looked  for  the 
last  time  on  her  beauteous  isle. 

I  knew  about  where  to  find  the  "  Florence."  We 
picked  her  up  in  a  few  days  and  I  boarded  her 
and  made  sail  to  meet  the  "  Leckwith "  at  the 
rendezvous.  Kate  went  on  to  Singapore,  where  she 
took  the  next  ship  for  England.  Six  months  later  I 
received  word  that  she  had  died  suddenly  there,  be- 
fore she  had  applied  for  a  pardon,  and  the  course  of 
my  life  was  changed  again. 


[192] 


CHAPTER   IX 
A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

WHEN  I  rejoined  the  " Leckwith,"  after  hav- 
ing started  the  Beautiful  White  Devil,  who 
was  a  devil  no  longer  but  the  one  woman  in  the 
world  for  me,  on  her  way  to  England  to  secure  a 
pardon  for  her  piracies  which  would  open  the  way 
to  our  marriage,  Frank  Norton  was  very  inquisitive 
as  to  where  I  had  been  and  the  reason  for  my  sudden 
disappearance  from  Hong  Kong.  He  had  of  course 
heard  from  Ah  Fen  of  the  woman  pirate,  who  was 
mistakenly  blamed  by  the  real  pirates  for  some  of 
our  raids  on  them,  while  we  were  held  responsible  for 
some  of  hers,  and  I  could  see  that  his  keen  mind  had 
conceived  the*suspicion  that  it  was  her  ship  whose 
commander  I  had  attended,  in  my  capacity  as  a  sur- 
geon, after  our  joint  fight  with  the  Malays  on  the 
deck  of  the  British  bark,  and  that  she  was  at  the  bot- 
tom of  my  absence,  but  I  declined  to  discuss  the  mat- 
ter at  all  or  give  him  any  information  on  the  subject. 
I  told  him  simply  that  I  had  been  away  on  strictly 
private  business.  With  even  my  most  intimate 
friends  I  am  naturally  secretive  regarding  my  purely 

[193] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

personal  affairs,  and  the  "  Beautiful  White  Angel,"  as 
I  now  knew  her  to  be,  had  become  so  sacred  in  my 
enraptured  vision  that  I  did  not  wish  to  talk  about 
her  with  any  one,  and  least  of  all  with  the  cynical 
Norton.  I  knew  he  would  base  his  estimate  of  her 
on  her  altogether  undeserved  reputation  among 
people  who  had  never  seen  her,  and  that  he  would 
say  something  which  would  make  me  want  to  kill 
him.  There  really  was  no  need  for  that  sort  of  a 
finale  to  our  semi-partnership,  so  I  remained  silent. 
Norton  was  annoyed  by  my  refusal  to  take  him  into 
my  confidence  and  went  away  in  a  huff,  but  he  was 
astounded,  a  day  or  two  later,  when  I  told  him  I  had 
decided  to  sell  the  "Florence"  and  "Surprise,"  divide 
up  the  profits  with  him,  and  quit  the  business  we 
were  in. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ? "  he  asked  in  amazement. 
"  Have  you  lost  your  mind  ?  " 

"On  the  contrary,"  I  replied,  "I  have  only  just 
come  into  my  right  mind." 

"But  look  at  the  money  we  are  making,"  he  pro- 
tested. "Is  there  any  other  place  where  you  can 
make  as  much  money  so  easily  ?  " 

"There  is  nobody  who  gets  more  satisfaction  out 
of  money  than  I  do,"  I  said,  "  but  after  all  it  is  n't  the 

[194] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

only  thing  in  the  world.  I  came  out  here  for  the 
adventure  more  than  for  the  money." 

"Well,  isn't  the  supply  of  adventure  equal  to  the 
demand  ? "  he  asked  with  a  tinge  of  sarcasm. 

"Not  of  the  kind  that  appeals  to  me.  There  is 
plenty  of  excitement,  of  a  kind,  but  not  an  awful  lot 
of  adventure,  as  I  understand  the  term.  Most  of  the 
time  it  is  nothing  more  than  wholesale  butchery  of 
ignorant  Malays  and  Chinkies  who  have  no  chance 
against  us  even  though  they  do  outnumber  us.  And 
to  make  it  worse,  we  steal  from  them.  That  is  not  the 
kind  of  adventure  that  I  enjoy." 

This  sort  of  talk  from  me  must  have  sounded  very 
strange  and  I  was  not  surprised  at  Norton's  dumb- 
founded expression. 

"But  we  only  take  from  them  what  they  have 
stolen  from  somebody  else,"  he  argued.  "They  have 
no  right  to  it,  while  we  can  reasonably  claim  it  as 
a  reward  for  avenging  those  whom  they  have  killed 
and  robbed.  Besides  that,  we  ought  to  get  a  medal 
from  the  British  Government  for  every  one  of  those 
devils  we  put  out  of  the  way,  for  we  are  doing  the 
world  a  service." 

"  That  is  no  argument,"  I  contended,  remembering 
Miss  Crofton's  curt  reproval  of  my  own  defence  to 
her,  along  just  the  same  line,  only  a  month  before. 

[195] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

"The  fact  that  they  steal  from  others  gives  us  no 
shadow  of  right  to  steal  from  them.  Perhaps  it  is 
a  good  thing  to  kill  them,  but  I  hold  no  commission 
and  draw  no  salary  for  that  sort  of  thing.  If  the 
world  wants  them  put  out  of  the  way,  let  the  world 
attend  to  it.  The  world  has  never  done  anything  for 
me  that  should  make  me  want  to  assume  the  whole 
contract.  If  it  is  a  public  service  to  slay  pirates,  I 
have  certainly  killed  my  share,  and  directed  the 
slaughter  of  enough  more  of  them  to  absolve  all  of 
my  most  distant  relatives  from  any  further  respon- 
sibility in  the  matter.  Somebody  else  can  now  step 
up  and  kill  his  share,  and  they  can  keep  it  going  as 
long  as  they  like.  I  am  sick  of  murdering  and  rob- 
bing, even  though  they  are  pirates,  and  there  will 
be  no  more  of  it  from  my  ships." 

"What  do  you  know  about  this  'Beautiful  White 
Devil '  Ah  Fen  has  been  telling  me  about  ?  "  he  shot 
at  me.  He  evidently  expected  to  catch  me  off  my 
guard,  but  I  was  looking  for  just  such  an  inquiry  and 
was  not  at  all  perturbed. 

"  There  is  no  such  person,"  I  answered  with  perfect 
truthfulness.  "I  satisfied  myself  on  that  point  while 
I  was  in  Hong  Kong.  That  is  only  one  of  the  wild 
stories  you  hear  out  here  where  there  are  so  many 
people  who  smoke  opium.  There  may  be  a  man 

[196] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

pirate  who  sometimes  masquerades  in  female  attire, 
but  there  is  no  woman  pirate." 

"It  may  be,"  he  suggested  sneeringly,  "that  this 
sudden  decision  of  yours  to  retire  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  Moy  Sen  has  threatened  to  exterminate  us.  If 
you  don't  want  to  fight  the  old  scoundrel,  why  don't 
you  say  so,  instead  of  backing  out  on  an  assumption 
of  morality  that  does  not  harmonize  with  your  make- 
up and  with  which  it  is  far  beyond  me  to  agree." 

That  dart  struck  a  tender  spot.  I  would  be  the 
last  one  to  quit  under  a  threat  or  under  fire,  and  Nor- 
ton knew  it.  The  prospect  of  a  rattling  final  fight 
was  most  alluring.  Fighting  pirates,  I  reasoned  with 
myself,  especially  when  they  had  declared  war  on 
you,  was  altogether  different  from  preying  on  them, 
which  I  had  given  my  word  I  would  not  do.  It  would 
be  at  least  six  or  eight  months  before  my  beloved 
Kate  could  secure  her  pardon  and  meet  me  in  Bom- 
bay, where  we  had  planned  to  be  married,  and  that, 
I  figured,  would  give  me  time  to  accept  the  "  defi  "  of 
the  King  of  the  Pirates,  if  he  moved  as  rapidly  as  we 
might  expect. 

"  Far  from  running  away  from  a  fight  of  that  kind," 
I  told  Norton,  "I  should  much  rather  run  into  it. 
We  will  cruise  around  a  while  to  see  whether  the 
Chinkies  really  mean  to  give  us  battle.  But  it  is 

[197] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

the  sport  of  it  that  I  want  and  nothing  else,  for  if  it 
comes  off  it  will  be  a  great  fight.  There  must  be  no 
more  looting." 

Norton  apparently  considered  that  he  had  shaken 
my  decision  to  quit  preying  on  the  pirates,  wherein 
he  was  mistaken,  and  hoped  to  be  able  to  induce  me 
to  abandon  it  entirely.  At  any  rate  we  were  of  one 
mind  in  hunting  for  a  scrap  with  the  Chinkies,  just 
for  the  fun  of  it,  and  harmony  was  restored. 

We  loafed  around  in  the  path  of  the  pirates  below 
Great  Natuna  Island  but  nothing  happened  for  ten 
days  or  two  weeks  and  it  began  to  look  as  though 
they  were  not  seeking  us  very  earnestly.  We  saw 
several  junks  which  we  could  easily  have  stood  up 
and  robbed,  but  I  would  not  permit  it.  Late  one 
evening,  just  as  the  galloping  night  was  closing  in, 
an  enormous  junk  appeared  suddenly  from  behind 
an  island  and  came  sailing  down  a  narrow  strait 
through  which  we  were  just  crawling.  Instead  of 
hurrying  along  through  the  dangerous  passage,  as 
she  would  have  done  had  she  been  an  honest  trader, 
she  began  to  shorten  sail  after  she  had  passed  us. 
That  aroused  our  suspicions  and  we  determined  to 
look  her  over.  She  appeared  to  carry  only  a  small 
crew,  but  when  we  came  together  it  seemed  to  me 
for  a  moment  that  she  had  more  Chinamen  on  board 

[198] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

than  I  had  ever  seen  before  at  one  time.  We 
increased  our  speed  a  little  and  drew  up  alongside 
to  get  a  good  look  at  her.  We  were  almost  on  an 
even  keel  with  her  when  she  swung  suddenly  to  star- 
board and  would  have  smashed  into  our  bow  if  we 
had  not  gone  full  speed  astern  without  losing  a 
second.  As  she  passed  under  our  short  bowsprit  she 
threw  a  grappling  iron  which  caught  on  our  port 
bow,  and  we  let  it  stay  there. 

We  lit  our  battle  lamps  and  hung  them  along  under 
the  rail  so  that  they  illuminated  our  deck,  where  we 
preferred  to  fight,  because  we  knew  every  foot  of  it. 
We  had  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  men  on 
the  "  Leckwith,"  Norton  having  taken  the  pick  of  the 
crews  of  the  "  Florence  "  and  "  Surprise,"  while  I  was 
away,  in  order  to  be  prepared  for  any  contingency, 
and  I  had  no  fear  that  the  pirates  could  come  aboard 
fast  enough  to  get  away  with  us.  The  junk's  grap- 
pling iron  held  and  as  soon  as  she  was  clear  of  us 
we  went  ahead  slowly.  This  drew  the  two  ships 
together,  which  was  what  we  wanted.  As  the  junk 
swung  around  we  let  go  our  carronades,  but  we  were 
at  such  close  quarters  that  the  slugs  did  not  have 
time  to  scatter  and  simply  ploughed  small  holes 
through  the  mass  of  men  that  swarmed  her  decks. 
We  gave  them  a  volley  of  rifle  fire  and  met  them  with 

[199] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

another  as  the  ships  came  together.  They  rushed 
over  the  rail  at  us  in  a  sulphur  cloud.  Then  it  was 
revolvers  and  cutlasses.  The  pirates  resorted  to  their 
old  trick  of  throwing  themselves  on  the  deck,  as 
though  killed  or  wounded,  and  trying  to  hamstring 
or  disembowel  us,  but  we  were  up  to  that  game  and 
were  watching  for  it.  We  made  sure  that  every 
Chinaman  was  dead  when  he  struck  the  deck.  Every 
blow  was  that  of  an  executioner.  In  a  few  minutes, 
as  it  seemed  then,  though  it  may  have  been  much 
longer,  the  decks  were  slippery  with  blood  and  I 
could  actually  hear  it  dripping  through  the  scuppers 
into  the  quiet  sea. 

It  was  such  a  fight  as  one  gets  into  only  in  years, 
perhaps  only  once  in  a  lifetime.  The  butchery  was 
dreadful  but  the  excitement  of  it  set  one's  blood 
ablaze.  Our  men  became  demons.  As  they  shot  and 
slashed  they  shouted  and  sang.  A  disarmed  Chinkie 
seized  me  around  the  waist  and  dragged  me  in  among 
his  blood-stained  fellows,  but  we  were  so  closely 
wedged  together  that  they  could  not  chop  at  me 
without  striking  each  other  and  they  never  thought 
of  stabbing  me.  Norton  and  the  mighty  Lorensen, 
swinging  an  enormous  Chinese  sword  which  he  had 
taken  from  one  of  his  victims,  came  to  my  assistance 
and  in  a  twinkling  I  was  free,  with  dead  and  maimed 

[200] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

pirates  piled  up  around  me  in  a  circle.  I  could  feel 
sword  cuts  now  and  then  but  they  seemed  like  pin 
pricks.  All  of  us  were  so  covered  with  blood  that 
there  was  no  telling  whether  it  came  from  our  own 
wounds  or  those  we  had  inflicted. 

"That  makes  us  even,"  I  shouted  to  Lorensen,  as 
I  cut  down  a  yellow  devil  who  had  crept  up  behind 
him,  while  he  was  busy  with  those  in  front,  and  had 
his  knife  raised  to  put  him  out  of  commission.  A 
Chinkie  who  had  lost  his  sword  seized  my  empty 
pistol  from  its  holster,  pressed  it  over  my  heart  and 
pulled  the  trigger.  I  let  him  go  that  far  and  then 
laughed  at  him  as  I  backed  away  and  cut  his  head 
half  off.  I  saw  Norton  go  down  and  fought  my  way 
to  him,  to  find  that  he  had  only  slipped  in  a  red  pool. 
He  had  been  singing  a  loud  requiem  of  profane  abuse 
over  those  who  met  his  sword  and  he  resumed  it 
where  he  had  left  off,  hardly  missing  a  note.  We 
kept  the  pirates  in  front  of  us  and  steadily  forced 
our  way  forward.  Every  time  one  of  our  own  men 
fell  it  made  us  fight  the  harder.  The  Chinkies  cut  and 
slashed  with  all  of  their  desperate  savagery  but  it 
was  impossible  for  them  to  stand  before  the  fury  of 
our  men  and,  though  they  outnumbered  us  four  or 
five  to  one,  they  finally  began  to  give  way.  We  fol- 
lowed them  onto  their  own  deck  and  piled  them  up 

[201] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

on  top  of  each  other.  Finally  a  lot  of  them  took  to 
the  hold  and  the  rest,  perhaps  a  hundred  of  them, 
jumped  overboard.  Those  that  foolishly  fled  to  the 
hold  we  treated  to  a  dose  of  their  own  medicine. 
We  threw  their  stink-pots  down  among  them  until 
the  air  was  thick  with  the  poisonous  smoke,  and 
closed  the  hatches.  Some  of  them,  gasping  and 
blinded,  tried  to  escape  through  the  guarded  gang- 
ways; the  rest  of  them  died  in  the  hold.  There  was 
not  a  pirate  left  alive  on  the  junk  or  on  our  own  deck. 
We  looked  upon  our  work  and  pronounced  it  good, 
but  before  we  had  time  to  congratulate  ourselves  or 
count  noses  to  ascertain  the  extent  to  which  we  had 
suffered,  we  discovered  a  big  steamer  almost  on  top 
of  us.  It  was  the  "  Ly-ce-moon,"  the  flagship  of  Moy 
Sen's  fleet,  and,  though  we  did  not  know  it,  the  old 
pirate  chief  himself  was  in  command  of  her.  We 
barely  had  time  to  refill  our  revolvers  and  get  back 
onto  the  "  Leckwith,"  when  she  banged  into  us  and 
made  fast  with  her  grapplers.  She  was  nearly  twice 
the  size  of  the  "  Leckwith  "  and  her  rail  was  three  or 
four  feet  above  ours.  We  did  not  know  how  many 
men  she  carried  nor  did  any  of  us  care,  for  we  were 
mad  with  monotonous  murder;  the  bestial  blood  lust 
that  comes  from  a  glut  of  human  butchery  was  over 
all  of  us.  We  were  both  exhilarated  and  enraged; 

[202] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

stimulated  by  the  quick  work  we  had  made  of  the 
junk,  and  furious  at  the  revelation  of  the  cunning 
trap  that  had  been  set  for  us.  The  junk  was  the  bait. 
It  was  expected  that  we  would  attack  and  board  her ; 
that  our  boarding  force  would  be  overwhelmed  by 
the  hundreds  of  devils  who  were  crammed  into  her 
hold,  and  while  this  fight  was  on  the  "  Ly-ce-moon  " 
was  to  come  up  on  the  other  side  and  finish  us  off. 
It  was  shrewdly  planned  and  if  we  had  not  been  on 
our  guard  and  suspicious  of  everything,  we  would  have 
fallen  into  the  trap,  and  delayed  matters  so  long 
that  when  it  came  we  would  have  had  a  fight  on  our 
hands  which  it  would  have  been  hard  to  win.  As  I 
reasoned  it  out,  when  we  ranged  alongside  of  the 
junk  to  size  her  up  more  closely,  as  soon  as  she  came 
up  with  us,  her  commander,  naturally  thinking  we 
were  preparing  to  attack  him,  decided  that  the  cun- 
ning thing  for  him  to  do  was  to  throw  his  horde 
aboard  of  us  instead  of  waiting  for  us  to  board  him. 
He  supposed  we  carried  only  our  ordinary  crew,  as 
all  of  our  extra  men  were  out  of  sight,  and  figured 
that  it  would  be  an  easy  game  for  him,  in  which  he 
stood  to  win  a  lot  of  glory  with  no  chance  of  losing; 
for  even  if  we  should  develop  unexpected  strength, 
the  steamer  would  come  up  in  time  to  make  our 
defeat  certain.  Nothing  but  this  turn  of  affairs,  which 

[203] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

was  not  according  to  the  programme,  and  the  fury 
with  which  our  augmented  crew  went  at  the  Chinkies, 
made  it  possible  for  us  to  render  the  junk  entirely 
harmless  before  Moy  Sen  arrived. 

When  he  threw  his  grappling  irons  we  made  them 
fast  and,  before  he  had  time  to  think,  or  to  see  all  that 
had  happened,  we  were  scrambling  over  his  high 
sides,  each  man  armed  with  a  revolver  in  one  hand 
and  a  cutlass  in  the  other.  The  Chinaman,  even 
when  he  is  a  pirate,  has  no  rapid  resourcefulness. 
When  you  "switch  the  cut"  on  him,  or  do  any- 
thing in  a  different  way  from  that  in  which  he  ex- 
pects you  to  do  it,  he  has  to  stop  and  figure  it  out 
and  fix  himself  all  over  again.  Moy  Sen's  crew 
were  prepared  to  board  us,  and  when  we  made  the 
offensive  our  defensive,  and  carried  the  fight  to  them 
with  an  altogether  unexpected  rush,  they  were 
so  taken  by  surprise  that  they  offered  little  real 
resistance  to  our  invasion.  But  by  the  time  we 
were  all  on  board  they  had  regained  their  senses  and 
the  fight  that  followed  was  even  more  savage  than 
the  one  before  it.  There  were  no  lights,  except  those 
under  the  "  Leckwith's  "  rail,  which  did  us  little  good, 
and  the  pirates  fired  at  us  from  hiding  places  about 
their  well-known  decks,  which  we  could  not  make  out 
until  our  eyes  had  become  accustomed  to  the  dark- 

[204] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

ness.  Our  men  shot  and,  when  their  revolvers  were 
empty,  slashed  at  every  noise.  In  order  that  we 
might  not  attack  each  other  we  kept  up  a  con- 
temptuous chant  of  curses  on  the  Chinese,  counting 
time  to  it  with  our  cutlasses. 

The  result  was  a  repetition  of  what  had  occurred 
with  the  crew  of  the  junk,  but  it  required  much 
longer  to  accomplish  it.  The  junk  had  carried  more 
men  than  the  steamer,  for  it  was  planned  that  those  on 
the  junk  were  to  do  the  brunt  of  the  fighting  and  get 
us  going  before  the  others  came  at  us  from  behind; 
but  the  first  battle  was  fought  on  a  well-lighted  deck 
with  every  foot  of  which  we  were  familiar,  while 
the  second  struggle  took  place  on  a  strange  ship  and 
in  semi-darkness,  which  was  lightened  only  by  the 
lamps  on  our  own  ship  below  us  and  a  few  stars 
above,  for  the  sky  was  overcast  with  clouds. 

We  strung  our  forces  along  the  full  length  of  the 
"  Ly-ce-moon,"  to  prevent  the  pirates  from  getting 
behind  us,  and  fought  our  way  crosswise  of  the  ship. 
One  of  the  first  things  that  caught  my  eye  was  the 
figure  of  a  gigantic  Chinaman  in  the  after  part  of 
the  vessel,  who  at  first  directed  the  fight  and  then 
took  a  large  hand  in  it  himself.  It  was,  as  I  sus- 
pected at  the  time  from  the  manner  in  which  he  had 
been  described  to  me  by  Ah  Fen,  old  Moy  Sen  him- 

[205] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

self,  who  had  paid  us  the  high  honor  of  taking  per- 
sonal charge  of  the  campaign  against  us.  He  was 
the  biggest  Chinaman  I  had  ever  seen  and  must  have 
been  a  full-blooded  Tartar.  He  was  raw-boned  and 
his  face,  of  which  I  now  and  then  caught  a  glimpse, 
was  that  of  a  fiend.  He  had  tremendously  long 
arms  and  every  time  he  swung  his  sword  he  cleared 
a  space.  Lorensen  and  I,  who  were  close  together 
while  Norton  was  farther  forward,  tried  to  fight  our 
way  to  him,  but  we  were  held  back  by  important 
business  directly  in  front  of  us  that  demanded  imme- 
diate attention.  By  the  time  we  succeeded  in  work- 
ing our  way  aft,  the  chief  of  all  the  pirates  had 
disappeared. 

Made  more  desperate  by  the  annihilation  of  their 
comrades  on  the  junk  and  inspired  by  the  presence 
of  their  great  leader,  and  his  commanding  and 
defiant  shouts,  the  Chinkies  fought  with  a  grim  stub- 
bornness which  I  had  never  before  seen  them  display. 
They  made  no  noise  about  it  but  kept  chopping 
away,  sometimes  aimlessly,  but  always  chopping. 
The  scent  of  veritable  rivers  of  blood  would  have 
sickened  us,  and  our  tired  arms,  like  those  of  our 
enemies,  would  have  settled  into  a  methodical  swing, 
had  we  not  been  spurred  on  by  one  victory  and  the 
prospect  of  a  still  greater  one.  My  sword  was 

[206] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

broken  off  at  the  hilt  in  warding  off  a  vicious  blow, 
but  before  another  one  could  be  struck  I  seized  a 
fortunately  falling  Chinkie  and  held  him  in  front  of 
me,  while  his  blood  gushed  all  over  me,  until  I  had 
secured  his  sword,  which  I  used  as  effectively  as  my 
own.  In  trying  to  hamstring  me  a  half-dead  pirate 
gashed  the  calf  of  my  leg  to  the  bone,  yet  I  scarcely 
noticed  it.  I  felt  something  trickling  down  my  face 
and  knew  a  glancing  blow  had  laid  open  my  scalp, 
but  there  was  no  twinge  of  pain.  It  was  the  same 
with  all  of  the  others.  No  one  thought  of  his  wounds 
unless  he  was  disabled,  when,  if  he  had  strength 
enough,  he  dragged  himself  to  the  rear  to  be  out  of 
the  way.  Nothing  was  in  our  minds  but  to  fight 
and  win.  Had  there  been  twice  as  many  of  the 
pirates  the  result,  in  the  end,  would  have  been  the 
same,  for  it  was  not  in  us  to  be  defeated  that  night. 
Gradually,  but  slowly  at  first,  we  got  the  upper  hand 
of  them.  When  the  inspiring  voice  of  their  chief  was 
silenced  they  gave  way  more  rapidly  and  our  men 
chased  them  over  the  side  and  rushed  into  cabins, 
deckhouses,  for'c'sle,  engine  room,  and  stokehole,  hunt- 
ing out  those  who  had  sought  hiding  places,  and 
putting  an  end  to  the  continued  danger  of  pot  shots. 
It  was  broad  daylight  by  the  time  we  had  thrown 
overboard  the  last  of  the  dead  Chinamen  and  washed 

[207] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

down  the  decks,  after  giving  our  own  badly  wounded 
men  such  attention  as  was  possible  under  the  con- 
ditions. We  thought  for  a  time  that  Moy  Sen  had 
escaped,  but  we  found  him,  almost  chopped  to  pieces, 
close  to  the  after  wheelhouse,  with  three  of  our  men 
dead  beside  him.  Except  for  his  great  size  we  would 
not  have  known  him,  but  he  was  identified  by  Ah 
Fen,  who  was  the  only  one  on  board  who  had  ever 
seen  him.  We  had  twenty-one  men  killed  and  twice 
as  many  so  seriously  injured  that  a  number  of  them 
subsequently  died,  and  there  was  hardly  a  man  of 
us  who  did  not  have  one  or  more  wounds  of  some 
kind.  In  addition  to  the  cut  on  my  leg,  which  was  a 
nasty  one  and  barely  missed  the  tendons,  and  the 
scalp  wound,  which  was  not  a  severe  one,  I  had  a 
dozen  cuts  and  gashes  of  assorted  sizes  and  widely 
distributed.  The  point  of  a  sword  had  ripped  open 
my  already  scarred  cheek  and  another  one  had  taken 
away  a  souvenir  from  my  arm.  Norton  had  a  long 
cut  along  his  abdomen,  which  almost  accomplished 
the  intended  disembowelment,  and  half  of  one  ear 
was  hanging  by  the  skin.  He  also  had  many  minor 
injuries,  but  neither  of  us  was  damaged  beyond 
speedy  repair.  Lorensen,  a  mighty  man  in  any  posi- 
tion, who  had  sent  as  many  Chinamen  to  join  Con- 

[208] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

fucius  as  had  any  of  us,  was  one  of  the  very  few  who 
escaped  with  only  trifling  scratches. 

On  the  "Ly-ce-moon"  were  two  teak  chests,  filled 
with  gold  and  silver  coin  and  ingots,  silverware, 
jewelry,  and  precious  and  semi-precious  stones,  of  the 
Oriental  variety,  apparently  representing  the  most 
valuable  portions  of  several  stolen  cargoes,  and  these 
I  allowed  to  be  transferred  to  the  "Leckwith,"  in 
preference  to  throwing  them  overboard.  It  then 
became  a  question  as  to  what  we  should  do  with  Moy 
Sen's  ships.  There  was  some  apprehension  that  if 
we  took  them  with  us  we  might  run  into  a  cruiser 
and  be  unable  satisfactorily  to  explain  exactly  how 
we  came  into  possession  of  them  and  what  we  were 
doing  with  such  a  large  crew  on  a  private  yacht. 
We  compromised  the  difficulty  by  scuttling  the  junk 
and  putting  a  crew  aboard  the  steamer.  We  went  to 
Singapore,  arriving  there  in  the  early  Summer  of  1876, 
as  I  remember  it,  to  close  up  our  business,  and  sold 
the  pirate  ship  to  our  Chinese  agents  for  a  third  of 
what  she  was  worth.  We  also  sold  to  them,  for  a 
small  part  of  its  value,  the  loot  we  had  taken  from 
her,  but  all  of  that  money  was  divided  up  between 
Norton  and  the  crew.  I  held  to  my  promise  and 
touched  none  of  it.  We  retained  about  twenty-five 
of  our  best  men,  paid  the  others  off,  after  dividing 

[209] 


up  a  large  share  of  our  profits  with  all  of  them,  placed 
the  injured  in  a  hospital,  and  headed  for  Hong 
Kong,  where  the  "Florence"  and  "Surprise"  had 
been  ordered  to  report.  On  the  way  we  stopped  at 
a  small,  cut-of-the-way  island,  landed  all  of  our  guns 
and  most  of  our  small  arms,  and,  after  covering  them 
well  with  red  lead  and  tallow,  buried  them  in  a  deep 
hole,  over  which  we  planted  a  lot  of  young  cocoanut 
trees.  The  "Leckwith"  then  became,  in  fact,  a 
private  yacht.  We  had  no  anxiety  regarding  our  old 
friends,  the  pirates,  for  there  was  nothing  we  could 
not  run  away  from. 

It  was  fortunate  that  we  removed  all  traces  of 
piracy  and  restored  the  "Leckwith"  to  an  honest 
vessel  for  as  soon  as  we  reached  Hong  Kong  we 
were  boarded  and  inspected  with  great  care.  It 
transpired  that  while  I  was  away  with  Miss  Crof- 
ton,  Norton  had  landed  at  a  little  village  a  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  down  the  coast  and  played  hob  with 
it.  I  knew  nothing  about  it  until  after  we  were 
examined,  when  Lorensen  told  me  about  it.  Nor- 
ton's excuse  was  that  he  believed  the  village  was 
inhabited  only  by  pirates  and  he  wanted  to  teach 
them  a  lesson,  but  there  was  no  doubt  in  my  mind 
that  he  had  hoped  to  find  a  lot  of  loot  there.  The 
"Leckwith,"  naturally,  answered  the  descriptions  of 

[210] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

the  ship  that  made  the  raid,  and  if  we  had  not  been 
nicely  cleaned  up  when  the  officers  came  aboard,  we 
undoubtedly  would  have  been  arrested  for  piracy, 
instead  of  which  we  were  absolved  from  all  suspicion. 
The  "Florence"  was  waiting  for  us  and  I  at  once 
disposed  of  her,  through  our  agents,  to  an  English 
trading  company.  In  a  few  weeks  the  "Surprise" 
came  in  from  Yokohama,  where  she  had  delivered  a 
cargo,  and  was  sold  to  a  Japanese  house  with  a 
branch  in  Hong  Kong.  I  remember  that  she  brought 
seven  thousand  pounds,  which  I  gave  to  Norton. 
We  paid  off  their  crews,  with  a  bonus  and  their  share 
of  the  profits,  and  saw  that  they  were  scattered  and 
shipped  on  long  voyages  in  different  directions,  as 
we  had  done  with  the  surplus  crew  of  the  "Leck- 
with."  We  had  no  fear  that  they  would  carelessly 
tell  what  they  knew  about  our  operations,  for  they 
were  pleased  with  their  treatment  and,  beyond  that, 
self-protection  would  have  stood  in  the  way  of  any 
complaint  against  us,  but  we  considered  it  wise  to 
distribute  them  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth 
before  they  had  an  opportunity  to  fill  up  with  rum 
and  become  braggarts,  wherein  would  be  danger  to 
all  of  us.  The  two  captains,  Brown  and  Heather, 
had  fallen  under  the  spell  of  the  China  Sea,  with  its 
dangers  and  its  delights,  and  were  in  no  hurry  to 

[211] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

leave  it  for  prosaic  England,  but  we  knew  they  could 
be  relied  on;  if  they  had  not  been  discreet  and  close- 
mouthed  I  never  would  have  engaged  them.  I  had 
been  out  East  about  two  years  and  considered  that 
the  adventures  I  had  encountered  there  amply  repaid 
me  for  the  time,  to  say  nothing  of  the  joy  I  had  found 
in  establishing  the  identity  of  the  Beautiful  White 
Devil  as  a  real,  live  being,  and  falling  in  love  with 
her.  Therefore  I  insisted  on  treating  all  of  our  men 
with  a  liberality  that  amounted  to  prodigality,  but 
even  after  that  Norton  and  I  divided  up  something 
over  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  as  the  remain- 
ing share  of  what  we  had  cleaned  up  from  the 
pirates. 

We  loafed  around  Hong  Kong  for  weeks,  for  it 
had  been  arranged  that  Miss  Crofton  should  com- 
municate with  me  there  as  to  the  probable  result  of 
her  effort  to  secure  a  pardon  after  the  confession  she 
intended  to  make  to  the  Home  Secretary.  Finally 
the  word  came,  and  it  was  a  great  shock  to  me,  for 
it  was  a  report  of  her  death,  which  occurred  suddenly 
at  her  old  home  in  Ireland,  soon  after  she  arrived 
there  on  her  way  to  London.  I  had  been  in 
love  before,  more  times  than  once,  but  never  so 
much  as  with  her.  For  her  I  was  ready  to  give 
up  my  adventurous  life,  but  the  knowledge  that  she 

[212] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

was  gone  from  me  made  me  more  desperate  than 
ever.  I  was  tempted  to  resume  the  old  piratical  life, 
yet  I  could  not  bear  to  remain  amid  scenes  that 
would  constantly  remind  me  of  her.  So  I  left  the 
China  Sea  behind  me  and  never  have  returned  to  it. 
On  receipt  of  the  heart-breaking  news  I  told  Nor- 
ton the  whole  story  of  how  I  became  acquainted  with 
the  beautiful  Miss  Crofton  and  fell  in  love  with  her, 
and  how  my  romance  had  been  shattered.  I  told 
him  he  could  stay  there  if  he  wanted  to,  and  return 
to  the  old  life  if  he  wished,  but  that  I  intended  to 
leave  at  once  and  for  all  time.  He  declared  he  would 
go  with  me,  and  suggested  that  we  take  a  trip  to 
Australia;  but  I  was  moody  and  wanted  to  cruise 
around  a  bit,  in  the  solitude  of  the  open  sea,  with  no 
definite  object  in  view.  We  headed  up  along  the 
coast  and  Norton,  who  was  looking  after  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  ship,  in  which  I  had  lost  all  interest  for 
the  time  being,  put  in  at  Amoy,  for  want  of  some- 
thing better  to  do.  He  thought  a  visit  to  a  strange 
port  might  do  me  good.  While  we  were  lying  there 
Norton  became  acquainted  with  a  Chinese  or  Corean 
merchant.  He  was  anxious  to  get  up  to  the  Shan- 
tung Peninsula,  where  the  Germans  were  beginning 
to  establish  themselves  firmly  with  the  idea  of  tak- 
ing possession  of  that  rich  section  of  China  when 

[213] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

the  Empire  was  divided  up  among  the  "friendly" 
powers,  so  called  because  they  were  altogether 
unfriendly,  and  Norton  proposed  that  we  continue 
our  indefinite  journey  that  far  and  take  him  along. 
I  agreed,  thinking  we  might  find  something  interest- 
ing in  new  scenes.  When  we  got  nearly  up  to  the 
Peninsula  Norton  unfolded  a  new  scheme.  Our  mer- 
chant passenger,  he  said,  had  told  him  of  a  lot  of 
treasure  buried  in  a  cemetery  in  Corea,  close  to  a 
river  and  not  a  great  way  from  the  coast,  which  was 
guarded  only  by  the  superstitious  native  fear  of  the 
dead.  It  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  secure  the 
treasure,  according  to  his  story,  and  he  offered  to 
lead  us  to  it  if  we  would  give  him  a  share  of  it.  By 
that  time  I  was  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  welcome  any 
excitement  and  I  told  Norton  to  close  with  him  and 
go  ahead. 

Accordingly  we  altered  our  course  and  sailed  for 
the  west  coast  of  Corea.  I  do  not  know  how  far  we 
followed  it  but  we  stopped  at  the  mouth  of  a  small 
river,  which  ran  close  to  the  cemetery,  about  twelve 
miles  up.  We  went  up  to  it  at  night  in  a  steam 
launch  we  had  bought  at  Hong  Kong;  Norton,  the 
merchant,  and  I,  and  eight  men.  The  cemetery,  which 
was  five  hundred  yards  back  from  the  river,  was  an 
open  space  of  perhaps  ten  acres,  filled  with  funny- 

[214] 


A  DEATH  DUEL  WITH  A  PIRATE  KING 

looking  graves,  covered  with  signs  and  charms.  In 
the  centre  of  it  was  an  unroofed  structure  about  fifty 
feet  square,  with  stone  walls  twelve  or  fifteen  feet 
high.  It  was  there,  said  our  guide,  that  the  money 
was  concealed. 

Just  as  we  came  to  the  edge  of  the  burying  ground 
a  procession  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  white-robed 
men,  marching  in  Indian  file  and  carrying  a  number 
of  ladders,  appeared  on  the  opposite  side.  They 
marched  to  the  square  structure,  raised  their  ladders 
against  the  wall  and  went  over.  In  half  an  hour  they 
climbed  out  again,  with  several  large  and  heavy  sacks 
which  were  lowered  with  some  difficulty,  took  down 
their  ladders  and  marched  away  in  silence.  Our 
guide  explained,  with  many  Chinese  curses,  that  they 
doubtless  were  a  delegation  sent  from  Seoul  after 
the  treasure.  Certainly  they  had  taken  something 
away  with  them  and  it  probably  was  money.  There 
was  no  telling  whether  it  was  gold,  silver,  or  copper, 
for  all  our  guide  professed  to  know  was  that  a  "  large 
amount"  was  hidden  there.  From  the  size  and 
weight  of  the  numerous  sacks  in  which  it  was  carried 
away  I  got  the  idea  that  the  "  treasure  "  consisted  of 
the  cheap  "cash"  used  in  that  country  and  China 
and  that  the  total  value  of  it  probably  did  not  exceed 
a  few  hundred  dollars  at  the  most.  Had  it  been  made 

[215] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

up    of    gold    coin    it    would    have    represented    the 
national  wealth  of  Corea. 

Some  of  the  store  might  have  been  left  behind,  but 
I  did  not  care  to  investigate.  The  outlook  was  not 
promising  and  the  situation  was  uncanny  to  a  degree 
that  got  on  my  already  depressed  nervous  system ;  so, 
with  some  random  remarks  about  Corean  methods  of 
burying  their  dead  and  hiding  their  money,  we 
walked  back  to  the  launch  and  returned  to  the  ship, 
without  having  derived  even  a  reasonable  amount  of 
excitement  from  the  trip.  That  fiasco  finally  fixed 
in  me  a  resolution,  that  had  been  forming  for  some 
time,  to  get  entirely  away  from  that  part  of  the 
world.  We  turned  about  and  landed  our  disap- 
pointed passenger  at  Shanghai  and  from  there  took 
a  course  almost  due  south,  which  carried  us  east  of 
the  Philippine  Islands,  down  through  Molucca  Pass, 
past  the  Island  of  Celebes,  into  the  Florida  Sea,  and 
out  through  the  Floris  Strait  into  the  Indian  Ocean. 
Our  final  objective  port  was  London,  but  I  had  no 
wish  to  make  another  trip  through  the  China  Sea 
and  its  islands  at  the  south,  which  held  so  many 
painful  memories,  and  took  this  roundabout  course 
to  avoid  them. 


[216] 


CHAPTER   X 
THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

N  my  way  back  to  England  on  the  "  Leckwith," 
along  toward  the  end  of  the  still  sadly  remem- 
bered year  of  1876,  after  having  said  farewell  to  the 
China  Sea,  with  its  beauty,  booty,  and  blood,  we 
decided  to  go  around  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to 
look  South  Africa  over  a  bit.  By  that  time  I  was 
eager  for  anything  that  offered  excitement  and  diver- 
sion, without  regard  to  either  the  principles  which 
were  involved  or  the  lack  of  them.  I  had  brooded 
over  the  death  of  the  Beautiful  White  Devil,  for 
love  of  whom  I  was  willing  to  give  up  my  old  ways 
and  become  a  quiet  and  orderly  person,  until  I  had 
interpreted  it  to  mean  that  the  unseen  and  unknown 
directing  force  of  my  career  had  no  sympathy  with 
my  reformatory  resolutions  and  had  taken  that  brutal 
way  of  making  plain  the  command  that  I  was  to 
remain  a  homeless  adventurer.  The  result  was  that 
my  nature,  for  the  time  being,  was  as  embittered  as 
it  had  been  exalted  only  a  short  time  before,  and  my 
hand  was  raised  against  every  one.  Norton,  my  part- 
ner in  this  expedition,  was  delighted  with  the  change 

[217] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

that  had  come  over  me,  and  hailed  with  unconcealed 
joy  what  he  regarded  as  my  return  to  a  normal  frame 
of  mind. 

We  put  in  at  the  Mauritius  for  coal  and  there  we 
heard  stories  regarding  the  still  flourishing  slave 
trade  which  led  us  to  believe  we  might  find  some 
spirited  and  profitable  sport  with  them,  in  the  same 
way  that  we  had  preyed  on  the  Chinese  and  Malay 
pirates  out  East.  We  sailed  around  Cape  St.  Mary 
into  the  Mozambique  Canal,  between  the  East  Afri- 
can coast  and  the  island  of  Madagascar,  and  began 
bartering  for  ivory,  gold  dust,  palm  nuts,  and  animal 
skins,  as  a  mask  for  our  real  purpose  and  to  give  us 
a  favorable  opportunity  to  study  the  situation.  Inves- 
tigation proved  that  we  had  been  correctly  advised 
regarding  it.  The  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  had  practically 
suppressed  the  sale  of  slaves  in  his  domain,  but  the 
only  effect  had  been  to  drive  the  trade  down  the  coast, 
and  large  numbers  of  negroes  from  the  interior  were 
being  handled  by  the  Arabs,  who  were  born  to  the 
business.  For  the  pick  of  the  slaves  there  was  a 
regular  course  down  the  White  Nile  and  the  Blue 
Nile  and  on  across  into  Arabia,  hitting  the  back  trail 
on  the  path  of  Moses.  The  rest  of  the  unfortunate 
victims  of  a  civilization  which  makes  might  right 
were  driven  in  long  strings  down  to  the  coast,  chiefly 

[218] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

to  Mozambique  and  to  the  delta  of  the  Zambesi  River, 
which  was  a  favorite  spot  for  barterings  in  blacks. 
The  bulk  of  these  slaves  were  intended  for  shipment 
across  the  channel  to  Madagascar,  where  there 
always  was  a  demand  for  them  among  the  old  Hovas, 
or  aristocrats,  who  owned  the  large  plantations.  The 
balance  of  them  were  sent  to  the  Arabian  coast  for 
distribution.  They  were  shipped  to  both  markets  in 
dhorvs,  low-lying  vessels  that,  with  a  fair  wind  and 
comparatively  smooth  sea,  could  make  almost  steam- 
ship time.  They  need  to  be  fast,  for  a  British 
cruiser,  on  the  lookout  for  just  such  ships,  was  con- 
tinually patrolling  the  channel  in  the  general  course 
of  a  figure  8,  and  sometimes  there  were  two  or  three 
of  them  on  the  watch.  The  Arabs  kept  close  tab 
on  the  warships  and  knew  about  where  they  were  at 
all  times,  except  when  they  doubled  on  their  course, 
which  they  sometimes  did,  with  occasional  disastrous 
results. 

When  the  chocolate  caravans  reached  the  mouths 
of  the  Zambesi  sales  were  held,  both  public  and  pri- 
vate, at  which  the  slave-dealers  bought  from  the  slave- 
catchers  as  many  negroes  as  they  thought  they 
could  handle.  The  blacks  were  placed  in  pens  or 
stockades  and  kept  there  until  the  coast  was  clear 
and  a  dhow  ready  to  sail,  when,  chained  together 

[219] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

by  the  neck  in  batches  of  six,  they  were  driven  on 
board  and  stowed  away  under  the  hatches,  from 
two  hundred  to  four  hundred  constituting  a  ship- 
load. The  average  price  of  these  slaves  in  Madagas- 
car was  one  hundred  dollars,  but  when,  on  account 
of  the  watchfulness  of  the  warships,  they  had  been 
kept  long  in  the  pens  and  were  fat  and  strong,  they 
brought  considerably  more,  —  sometimes  twice  as 
much. 

In  the  guise  of  a  peaceful  trader,  with  nothing 
about  us  to  arouse  suspicion,  we  loafed  along  the 
slave  coast  until  we  had  a  good  line  on  the  manner 
in  which  the  Arabs  conducted  their  operations  and 
knew  the  general  routine  of  the  movements  of  the 
watching  warships.  With  a  satisfactory  understand- 
ing of  the  general  situation  we  signed  on,  at  Mozam- 
bique, seventy-five  additional  men,  who  were  ready 
for  any  service,  equipped  ourselves  with  such  para- 
phernalia as  we  required,  and  launched  out  into  the 
business  of  snatching  slaves.  Our  ordinary  method 
was  to  cruise  along  the  Madagascar  coast  until  we 
sighted  a  dhow  sailing  along  in  a  light  breeze,  or, 
better  still,  becalmed.  We  would  just  keep  her  in 
sight  until  nightfall.  If  she  was  becalmed  we  would 
close  in  on  her,  with  our  lights  doused,  until  we  were 
two  or  three  miles  away;  if  she  was  under  slow  way 

[220] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

we  would  get  the  same  distance  in  advance  of  her. 
Then  we  would  lower  five  or  six  boats,  each  carrying 
ten  or  twelve  well-armed  men,  and  attack  her  from 
as  many  different  directions.  Norton  or  I  always 
went  along  in  command  of  the  expedition.  We  tried 
to  surprise  the  Arabs,  and  on  some  very  dark  nights 
we  succeeded,  but  most  frequently  they  surprised  us 
by  being  prepared  for  our  visit.  There  was  always  a 
fight  and  sometimes,  with  the  larger  dhows,  a  full- 
fledged  battle.  We  could  not  use  large  guns  without 
danger  of  killing  the  cargo,  so  it  was  altogether 
revolver  and  cutlass  work  on  our  side.  The  Arabs 
used  long  rifles  with  beautifully  inlaid  handles,  which 
really  were  deadly  weapons  in  spite  of  their  fanciful 
appearance,  and  curved  swords,  in  the  use  of 
which  they  were  artists.  They  fought  hard  enough, 
viciously,  in  fact,  but  we  generally  had  as  many  men 
as  they  carried,  or  more,  and  when  we  did  not  catch 
them  napping  we  confused  them  by  attacking  them 
simultaneously  at  five  or  six  points.  We  had  a  man 
killed  now  and  then  and  had  a  number  put  out  of 
commission  with  more  or  less  serious  wounds,  but 
we  suffered  little  in  comparison  with  the  damages 
we  inflicted. 

With  the  fight  over  we  would  transfer  the  Arabs 
to  the  "  Leckwith,"  where  we  put  them  in  irons  or 

[221] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

somewhere  else,  and  place  a  crew  on  the  dhow  to 
navigate  her  to  the  coast  and  sell  the  slaves.  Our 
attacks  were  always  made  close  inshore  to  minimize 
the  danger  of  being  ourselves  surprised  and  over- 
hauled by  a  warship.  We  would  follow  the  captured 
dhow  in  with  the  "Leckwith"  and  stand  off  and 
on  two  or  three  miles  offshore,  watching  for  inter- 
ference and  waiting  for  the  transaction  to  be  closed, 
when  we  would  send  boats  in  and  pick  up  our  crew, 
which  invariably  was  in  charge  of  Norton  or  I  or 
Lorensen.  The  dhow  was  sold  or  presented  to  the 
purchaser  of  the  slaves. 

The  activity  was  continuous,  for  we  were  always 
scurrying  around  in  search  of  slaves,  yet  the  excite- 
ment of  it  was  not  so  thrilling  as  I  had  anticipated. 
We  had  been  following  this  new,  and  I  must  admit 
somewhat  revolting  occupation  only  a  few  weeks 
when  the  crew  of  a  small  dhow  set  their  ship  on 
fire  as  we  were  closing  in  on  it  one  night  and  took  to 
the  boats  before  a  shot  had  been  fired.  By  the  time 
we  got  on  board  the  whole  afterpart  of  the  vessel  was 
in  flames  and  we  had  all  we  could  do  to  keep  it  from 
spreading  forward  far  enough  to  reach  the  slaves, 
who  were  in  a  panic  and  were  making  the  night 
melodious  with  the  wildest  yells  I  had  ever  heard. 
As  soon  as  the  blaze  was  made  out  from  the  "Leck- 

[222] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

with,"  Norton  brought  her  alongside  and  we  suc- 
ceeded in  transferring  all  of  the  negroes  to  her,  but 
with  great  difficulty,  for  they  were  almost  helpless 
from  fear  and,  chained  together  as  they  were,  it  was 
hard  to  handle  them  quickly.  However,  it  was  a 
small  shipment,  and  all  of  our  men  who  could  be 
spared  from  fighting  the  fire  eventually  got  them 
below  decks  on  the  "Leckwith,"  after  which  we  let 
the  dhow  burn,  and  made  fast  time  away  from  her 
for  fear  the  flames  would  attract  some  passing  ship. 
It  was  several  days  before  we  got  rid  of  the  slaves, 
for  the  first  port  we  visited  was  overstocked,  and  in 
that  time  they  filled  the  ship  with  an  indescribable 
stench  that  it  was  impossible  to  eradicate,  and  in  the 
end  it  proved  her  undoing. 

One  evening  not  long  after  that,  just  at  dusk,  as 
we  came  around  Cape  St.  Andrew,  we  ran  right  into 
a  British  gunboat  —  I  think  it  was  the  old  "Pen- 
elope." She  at  once  changed  her  course,  came  along- 
side and  hailed  us: 

"  What  ship  is  that  ?  " 

"  The  '  Jane  Meredith,'  from  Delagoa  Bay  to  Suez," 
I  shouted  back,  and  I  had  the  papers  to  prove  it. 

We  were  ordered  to  heave  to  and  a  lieutenant 
came  aboard  us.  His  manner,  as  he  came  over  the 

[223] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

rail,  indicated  that  he  was  suspicious  of  us.  He  first 
examined  our  papers  and  passed  them. 

"  You  're  damned  light  to  be  going  north,"  he  said, 
as  he  looked  over  the  manifest,  which  showed  only 
the  small  cargo  of  skins  and  palm  nuts  that  we 
always  carried. 

"  That  's  so,"  I  admitted,  "  but  we  've  been  out  East 
for  three  years  and  I'm  anxious  to  get  back  to  Eng- 
land. I  came  around  this  way  thinking  we  might 
pick  up  a  cargo,  but  there's  not  much  doing." 

"It  looks  as  though  there  had  been  something 
doing,"  he  exclaimed  a  few  minutes  later,  when  he 
saw  the  number  of  men  we  had  on  board.  "What 
in  thunder  are  you  doing  with  so  many  men  ?  " 

"We  had  three  ships  out  East,"  I  explained.  "  I 
sold  the  others  to  the  Japs.  The  crews  did  not  want 
to  stay  with  them.  When  they  signed  I  agreed  to 
return  them  to  England,  and  I  am  taking  them  back 
myself,  rather  than  pay  their  passage;  that's  all." 

He  looked  skeptical,  but  asked  no  further  questions 
along  that  line,  except  to  inquire  the  names  of  the 
ships  I  had  sold  and  their  rig. 

The  moment  he  poked  his  nose  in  the  hold  and 
sniffed  the  air  he  turned  on  me  and  declared,  with  an 
air  of  finality,  "You've  been  running  slaves." 

"Nothing  like  it,"  I  replied,  just  as  positively. 
[224] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

"There  were  a  lot  of  niggers  at  the  Mauritius  who 
wanted  to  get  to  Delagoa  Bay  and  as  we  were  going 
there  I  took  them  along,  at  two  shillings  a  head. 
They  grubbed  themselves  and  most  of  them  lived 
down  here,  as  we  were  crowded  above.  If  I  had 
known  they  would  stink  the  ship  up  so  I  wouldn't 
have  carried  them  at  any  price."  . 

"That's  the  regular  slave  smell,"  he  insisted, 
apparently  by  no  means  convinced  by  my  calm  state- 
ment. "  Your  craft  is  n't  fitted  up  as  though  you  had 
to  transport  niggers  to  keep  you  in  coal." 

"I  don't  make  a  business  of  it,"  I  told  him,  "but 
I  've  got  to  carry  something  besides  two  extra  crews, 
or  lose  money." 

Without  continuing  the  argument,  his  silence  add- 
ing to  my  apprehension,  he  went  on  over  the  ship 
and  examined  every  foot  of  it.  He  found  nothing 
to  strengthen  the  suspicions  I  was  convinced  he  had 
formed,  but  he  had  already  seen,  and  smelled,  enough 
to  make  me  uncomfortable. 

The  moment  the  young  officer's  launch  was  clear 
of  us  we  got  under  way  at  full  speed.  He  had  to 
row  only  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  to  the  gunboat 
and  we  had  not  gone  a  mile  before  a  shot  was  fired 
after  us  as  a  signal  to  heave  to  again.  Evidently 
the  commander  of  the  warship,  as  soon  as  he  heard 

[225] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

the  lieutenant's  report,  had  decided  to  hold  us  on 
suspicion,  but  we  had  no  idea  of  being  held.  It  was 
dark  by  that  time  and,  as  we  showed  no  lights,  the 
gunboat  could  not  pursue  us,  nor  could  she  tell 
which  way  to  shoot.  We  saw  her  lights  trailing  us 
for  a  while,  but  she  soon  gave  up  the  chase. 

I  knew  it  would  not  do  for  us  to  run  afoul  of  that 
gunboat,  after  that,  or  any  other,  for  the  word  would 
be  passed  quickly  along,  and  they  would  be  on  the 
lookout  to  pick  us  up.  We  became  much  more  care- 
ful than  we  had  been  before,  but  in  spite  of  our  pre- 
cautions, or  perhaps  because  of  them,  things  began 
to  go  against  us.  Not  long  afterward,  while  we  were 
waiting  on  the  outer  edge  of  a  bay  a  short  distance 
south  of  Kitombo  to  pick  up  Norton  and  a  party  who 
had  landed  a  cargo  of  slaves  from  a  captured  dhow, 
we  had  to  run  for  it  from  a  cruiser  that  happened 
along.  Though  she  never  got  within  range  she  gave 
us  a  long  chase  and  it  was  a  week  before  we  con- 
sidered it  safe  to  go  back  after  Norton  and  his  men. 
The  Arabs  were  increasing  their  crews  and  we  had  a 
succession  of  hard  fights  with  them,  in  which  we  lost 
a  number  of  men.  Norton  was  half  knocked  out  and, 
in  addition  to  several  minor  injuries  which  I  had 
accumulated,  I  had  a  bullet  hole  through  the  fleshy 
part  of  the  arm  that  was  giving  me  considerable 

[226] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

trouble.  And  with  it  all  we  were  constantly  offended 
by  the  stench  which  those  slaves  had  left  in  the  hold, 
as  though  to  haunt  us. 

I  never  have  believed  in  overplaying  my  luck, 
and  it  required  only  a  few  setbacks  to  convince  me 
that  fortune  had  turned  against  us,  so  I  decided  to 
make  another  change.  Preying  on  slavers  was  nasty 
business,  anyway,  though  rich  in  profits,  and  I  had  had 
enough  of  it.  I  had  become  superstitious,  too,  about 
the  sickening,  odoriferous  heritage  which  the  slaves 
had  left  with  us.  We  were  likely  to  be  recognized 
wherever  we  went,  and  that  smell  would  convict  us. 
Running  slaves  ranked  with  piracy  and  conviction 
meant  a  two-step  on  air  at  the  end  of  a  yardarm, 
which  was  not  a  pleasing  prospect.  Therefore  I 
determined  to  quit  the  business  and  bury  all  traces 
of  it,  including  the  "Leckwith."  She  had  paid  for 
herself  many  times  over  and  I  could  afford  to  lose 
her.  Besides,  if  I  kept  her  she  would  continually 
remind  me  of  my  experiences  in  the  China  Sea,  and 
those  I  was  equally  anxious  to  forget. 

I  paid  off  all  of  the  extra  men,  giving  them  double 
wages  and  a  share  of  the  profits,  and  told  them  of 
my  plans,  so  far  as  they  were  concerned.  We  had 
plenty  of  coal  to  take  us  as  far  as  I  intended  to  go 
and  I  did  not  care  to  put  into  any  port  for  fear  of 

[227] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

being  recognized.  Therefore  I  told  them  we  would 
take  them  to  within  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  of  Zanzi- 
bar, where  they  would  take  to  the  boats  and  sail 
ashore.  They  could  land  quietly,  and  probably 
unnoticed,  but  if  any  questions  were  asked  them  they 
were  to  report  that  the  ship  had  foundered.  This 
plan  was  carried  out  and  they  were  started  landward 
with  provisions  and  water. 

We  continued  on  our  solemn  journey  until  we  came 
to  a  point  about  twenty  miles  off  Aden,  near  the 
lower  end  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  there  we  proceeded 
to  bury  the  "Leckwith"  and  her  ghost,  the  smell  of 
the  slaves.  The  funeral  was  conducted,  early  in  the 
morning,  with  becoming  ceremony  and  with  sincere 
sorrow  on  the  part  of  all  of  us.  It  is  a  terrifying  thing 
to  have  a  ship  go  down  under  you,  even  in  a  smooth 
sea  and  with  the  shore  in  sight,  but  it  is  a  human 
tragedy  to  deliberately  sink  your  own  ship,  and  a 
long  and  intimate  association,  filled  with  dangers, 
such  as  mine  had  been  with  the  "Leckwith,"  mani- 
folds the  melancholy  of  it.  I  had  thought  I  could 
send  her  down  without  great  concern,  inasmuch  as 
it  was  necessary  to  protect  her  from  capture  and 
ourselves  from  arrest,  but  when  the  time  came  to  do 
it  I  understood  something  of  the  feelings  of  the  West- 

[228] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

ern  frontiersmen  when  they  killed  their  wives  to  pre- 
vent them  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians. 
In  the  nearly  ten  years  that  I  had  been  with  her 
she  had  carried  me  safely  through  more  dangers  than 
fall  to  the  life  of  the  ordinary  man,  even  though  he 
be  as  ardent  a  lover  of  the  sea  and  of  adventure  as  I 
myself.  No  storm  that  blew  had  ever  driven  her  to 
shelter  or  made  her  question  the  security  she  felt  in  my 
hands.  In  all  sorts  of  weather,  under  sail  or  steam,  she 
had  carried  me  clear  of  every  pursuing  ship  that  chal- 
lenged her  speed.  However  rough  the  usage  she  never 
rebelled  or  complained;  wherever  I  directed  her  she 
went  as  true  and  straight  as  an  arrow,  with  never  a 
misstep  or  a  falter.  If  she  had  been  disgraced  it  was 
because  I  had  elected  to  dishonor  her;  no  part  of  the 
blame  was  hers.  She  was  not  an  inanimate,  unfeeling 
thing  conceived  by  man  out  of  iron  and  steel,  but  a  liv- 
ing, breathing,  human  creation,  with  all  the  passion 
and  sympathy  and  devotion  of  a  woman,  and,  as  is  the 
way  of  most  mortals,  I  did  not  know  my  own  love 
for  her  until  I  was  about  to  lose  her.  I  am  not  much 
given  to  weeping,  but  there  were  tears  in  my  eyes 
as  I  gave  the  signal  that  stilled  forever  the  steady 
pulsations  of  her  great,  true  heart,  and  I  could  feel 
the  death  tremor  running  through  her  as  she  came 
to  a  stop. 

[229] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

While  a  royal  salute  boomed  from  her  yacht's  gun 
forward  I  read  over  her  the  burial  service  at  sea  pre- 
scribed by  the  Church  of  England.  Her  own  flag  was 
sent  to  the  maintop  and  the  rest  of  her  bunting  was 
astream  from  stern  to  bowsprit,  over  the  mastheads. 
Then,  with  the  small  boats  forming  a  cortege  along- 
side, we  opened  her  seacocks,  pulled  a  short  distance 
away,  and  watched  her  slowly  sink  to  her  grave,  ten- 
derly lowered  by  her  own  mother,  the  sea.  We  had 
taken  our  revolvers  along  for  that  particular  purpose, 
our  protection  being  a  secondary  consideration,  and 
as  the  waves  that  her  broken  heart  had  warmed 
caressed  the  topmost  flag  we  fired  another  salute  in 
her  honor,  as  the  final  tribute  of  a  love  that,  long 
smouldering  and  not  understood,  had  been  fanned 
into  full  flame  by  her  burial,  and  she  was  gone.  I 
owned  many  ships  after  that  but  never  one  among 
them  was  I  so  sure  of,  under  all  conditions,  as  I  was 
of  her. 

The  ocean  whispered  to  itself  of  her  brave  deeds 
as  it  closed  in  over  her  and  we  hoisted  rags  of  sails 
on  our  three  boats  and  headed  for  Aden,  where  we 
landed  late  in  the  afternoon  with  a  carefully  prepared 
story  of  the  sinking  of  an  imaginary  ship.  Aden  was 
a  port  of  call  for  ships  running  out  East  and  we  took 
the  next  one  that  came  in  for  England. 

[230] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

We  reached  London  early  in  1877  where  I  learned 
with  delight  that  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey  was 
imminent.  The  first  thing  I  did  was  to  dissolve  my 
partnership  with  Norton.  While  I  had  greatly  enjoyed 
the  adventures  that  were  a  part  of  it,  I  did  not  relish 
the  business  to  which  he  had  introduced  me.  I  do  not 
seek  to  avoid  any  responsibility  for  my  own  acts;  I 
went  into  the  business  with  my  eyes  open  but  it  was 
not  exactly  the  sort  of  thing  I  was  cut  out  for,  and  it 
left  a  bad  taste  in  my  mouth.  Moreover,  I  preferred 
to  operate  alone. 

Norton  joined  his  wife,  who  was  living  in  Devon- 
shire, and  I  went  to  the  Langham  Hotel,  where  I  put 
myself  in  touch  with  my  old  agents  and  other  dealers 
in  contraband,  for  I  hoped  the  coming  war  would 
produce  some  legitimate  business.  I  was  not  disap- 
pointed, for  very  soon  I  was  asked  to  meet  the  diplo- 
matic agent  of  Montenegro,  a  little  principality  lying 
on  the  Adriatic  between  Turkey  and  Austria-Hun- 
gary, which  was  at  that  time  subject  to  the  Sublime 
Porte.  It  was  cut  off  from  the  sea  by  a  narrow  mili- 
tary strip  which  was  occupied  by  Austria.  Cattaro, 
the  natural  seaport  of  Montenegro,  was  within  this 
strip  and  was  guarded  by  Austrian  soldiers.  The 
Montenegrin  border  was  not  more  than  a  mile  away, 
right  at  the  top  of  the  precipitous  mountains  that 

[231] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

surround  the  little  town,  but  the  passage  of  arms 
across  it  was  forbidden,  and  so  strictly  was  this  law 
enforced  that  people  crossing  from  or  into  Mon- 
tenegro were  compelled  to  leave  their  rifles  and 
even  their  revolvers  with  the  guard  at  the  frontier, 
until  they  returned.  Everything  that  passed  into  Mon- 
tenegro was  subjected  to  close  inspection  by  the  Aus- 
trian troops,  and  it  seemed  to  me,  as  I  first  studied  the 
situation,  that  the  delivery  of  a  cargo  of  contraband 
to  the  little  principality  would  present  many  unusual 
and  interesting  difficulties. 

I  met  the  diplomatic  agent,  by  appointment,  at  the 
old  Jerusalem  Coffee  House,  near  Corn  Hill,  and  he 
showed  me  a  commission  from  Prince  Nicholas  him- 
self to  establish  his  responsibility.  He  wanted  me  to 
deliver  a  cargo  of  arms  at  Cattaro  for  Montenegro 
and  said  he  was  willing  to  pay  liberally  but  not 
extravagantly  for  the  service,  as  the  danger,  to  one 
skilled  in  the  handling  of  contraband,  would  be  slight. 
I  inquired  what  he  proposed  to  do  with  the  arms  after 
they  reached  Cattaro,  as  their  importation  into  his 
country  was  forbidden,  but  he  politely  replied  that 
that  was  something  with  which  I  need  not  concern 
myself,  inasmuch  as  he  could  positively  assure  me 
that  I  need  have  no  fear  of  having  my  ship  seized 
at  Cattaro  or  getting  into  trouble  there.  He  told  me 

[232] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

the  Montenegrins  proposed  to  take  advantage  of  the 
Russo-Turkish  war,  which  was  then  certain,  though  it 
was  not  formally  declared  until  April  27,  to  make  a 
determined  effort  to  throw  off  the  Turkish  yoke,  and 
that  the  arms  were  urgently  needed  for  that  purpose. 
He  said  that  if  the  Porte  heard  so  much  as  a  hint 
that  they  were  buying  arms  I  might  be  stopped  by  a 
Turkish  ship;  therefore  the  greatest  secrecy  must  be 
maintained  and  I  should  be  prepared  with  a  full  set 
of  forged  papers  which  would  be  so  convincing  that 
any  Turk  who  might  board  my  ship  would  be  afraid 
to  inspect  the  cargo  for  fear  of  offending  England. 

We  came  to  terms  without  any  difficulty,  as  I  was 
anxious  to  get  back  into  my  own  business,  and,  as 
I  had  no  ship  of  my  own,  I  chartered  a  small  steam- 
ship for  the  voyage.  The  arms  were  shipped  to 
Amsterdam,  to  conceal  their  real  destination,  and  I 
picked  them  up  there,  after  they  had  been  repacked 
into  cases  weighing  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to 
two  hundred  pounds.  This  was  done  so  that  they 
could  be  taken  up  the  mountain-side  from  Cattaro  on 
muleback  without  unpacking.  There  were  about  ten 
thousand  rifles  and  a  great  quantity  of  ammunition. 
We  encountered  no  inquisitive  Turks  and  the  trip 
was  made  without  incident.  Cattaro  is  buried  at  the 
head  of  the  Bocche  di  Cattaro  (mouths  of  Cattaro), 

[233] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

a  great  S-shaped  bay,  and  rare  scenic  views  of  impres- 
sive grandeur  were  opened  up  to  us  with  every  turn 
of  the  tortuous  channel,  as  we  wound  our  way 
through  it  Bold,  bluff  mountains  ran  right  down  to 
the  water's  edge  and  off  to  the  north  were  the  high 
peaks  of  Herzegovina. 

According  to  programme,  we  got  up  to  Cattaro  just 
at  dusk  and  after  the  custom  house  had  closed.  As 
soon  as  we  had  made  fast  a  Montenegrin  official,  who 
had  been  waiting  for  us,  came  aboard,  paid  me  my 
charges  in  gold,  and  asked  me  to  get  the  cargo  out 
as  quickly  as  possible.  With  the  appearance  of  the 
first  boxes  a  long  string  of  pack  ponies  came  trotting 
down  the  dock,  and  as  fast  as  they  were  brought  up 
from  the  hold  the  boxes  were  placed  on  their  waiting 
backs  and  hustled  off  up  the  mountain-side.  By  day- 
light the  whole  cargo  was  across  the  frontier,  or  close 
to  it.  I  could  not  but  feel  that  I  was  taking  some 
chance  in  letting  it  go  so  unceremoniously,  but  I  had 
been  so  convincingly  assured,  both  by  the  diplomatic 
agent  in  London  and  by  the  official  who  took  charge 
of  the  unloading,  that  there  would  be  no  trouble  for 
me,  that  I  decided  to  run  the  risk.  When  the  custom 
house  opened  I  presented  my  papers,  which  called 
for  a  cargo  of  general  merchandise.  No  questions 
were  asked  as  to  the  disposition  of  the  goods  and 

[234] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

I  was  given  a  clearance,  or  permit  to  leave  the  port. 
This  clinched  my  suspicion,  which  had  been  growing 
stronger  with  each  of  the  preceding  incidents,  that 
the  arms  were  imported  with  the  secret  approval  of 
the  Austrian  Government.  Austria  had  previously 
proved  her  friendship  for  Montenegro  by  refusing 
to  allow  the  Turks  to  occupy  Cettinje,  the  capital, 
after  they  had  suppressed  the  last  revolt.  The  Mon- 
tenegrins rose  again  during  the  Russo-Turkish  war, 
which  began  soon  after  our  arrival  at  Cattaro,  and, 
with  the  aid  of  the  arms  I  had  carried  to  them,  finally 
achieved  their  long-prayed-for  independence,  which 
was  acknowledged  by  Turkey  in  the  Treaty  of  Berlin. 
I  devoted  a  few  days  to  a  visit  in  Cettinje,  which, 
far  from  what  my  imagination  had  pictured  it,  was 
nothing  but  a  collection  of  hovels,  but  the  people 
were  in  marked  contrast  to  their  surroundings  and 
made  up  for  the  shortcomings  of  their  homes.  The 
men  were  tall,  very  few  of  them  being  under  six  feet, 
and  handsome;  the  girls  were  beautiful,  with  the 
grace  and  features  of  nobility,  but,  as  most  of  the 
hard  work  fell  to  them  while  the  men  protected  them, 
they  aged  quickly.  In  their  picturesque  native  cos- 
tume, resplendent  with  crimson  and  gold,  they  were 
the  handsomest  race  I  had  seen  in  Europe.  War 
enthusiasm  was  rampant  and  nothing  else  was  talked 

[235] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

of.  I  was  tempted  to  stay  and  fight  with  them; 
if  I  had  known  their  language  I  think  I  would  have 
done  so,  for  they  are  born  warriors  and  the  love  of 
it  will  never  fail  them.  Their  dream,  as  with  all  of 
their  race  in  the  Balkans,  is  the  restoration  of  the 
great  Servian  Empire  of  six  hundred  years  ago,  which 
included  practically  all  of  the  peninsula,  and  so  long 
as  they  exist  they  will  be  trying  to  drive  the  Turk 
out  of  Europe. 

I  loafed  along  through  the  Mediterranean  on  my 
way  back  to  London  and  spent  the  next  year  or  more 
in  enjoying  myself  and  squandering  money,  which,  in 
those  days,  was  my  favorite  pastime  after  a  series  of 
adventures.  I  knew  I  had  only  to  go  to  sea  to  coin 
more  money,  so  the  spending  of  it  produced  nothing 
but  pleasure.  In  the  Spring  of  1879,  with  the  breaking 
out  of  the  boundary  war  in  which  always  aggressive 
Chile  was  matched  against  Peru  and  Bolivia,  which 
two  neighbors  had  long  been  in  secret  alliance  to 
guarantee  the  independence  of  each  other,  the  call  to 
South  America  came  to  me  again.  I  itched  to  have 
a  hand  in  the  affair  and  my  desire  was  soon  gratified 
when  I  responded  to  a  summons  from  the  manager 
for  Sir  William  Armstrong  &  Co.,  the  gun  makers. 
He  said  he  had  a  shipment  of  heavy  guns  for  Peru, 
which  were  to  be  delivered  at  San  Lorenzo,  a  fort  on 

[236] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

an  island,  which  guards  the  city,  at  the  entrance  to 
the  Bay  of  Callao.  Callao  is  the  port  of  Lima,  the 
capital,  and  I  was  advised  that  the  Chilanos  were 
maintaining  an  effective  blockade  there.  Peru  had 
only  six  serviceable  ships  when  the  war  started. 
Chile  had  a  much  stronger  fleet  though  her  ships  were 
of  inferior  speed.  She  had  so  many  of  them,  however, 
that  Peru  had  been  unable  to  raise  the  blockade. 
After  stating  the  situation,  Armstrong's  manager  sent 
me  to  Great  Portland  Place  to  interview  the  Peru- 
vian naval  attache,  who  had  charge  of  the  shipment. 
"It  is  a  ticklish  job,"  was  the  manager's  parting  advice. 
"  You  will  find  spies  all  along  the  line  and  it  will 
require  all  of  your  skill  to  deliver  the  cargo.  Don't 
be  mealy-mouthed  about  the  price  you  ask  for  it." 

I  agreed  with  the  naval  attache  to  deliver  the 
guns  at  Callao  for  fifty  thousand  dollars.  He  was 
inclined  to  haggle  over  the  price,  but  came  to  my 
terms  in  the  end.  It  was  stipulated  that  I  was  to 
receive  that  amount  if  the  cargo  was  delivered  or  if 
my  ship  was  sunk  by  the  Chilanos  while  defending 
herself,  whereas  if  I  was  captured  or  if  I  sank  the 
ship  to  avoid  capture,  I  was  to  get  nothing.  I  knew 
I  would  need  a  ship  that  could  do  sixteen  knots  an 
hour  or  better  for  this  undertaking  and  as  I  pre- 
ferred to  own  her,  so  that  I  could  do  what  I  pleased 

[237] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

with  her,  I  bought  the  "Britannia"  outright,  for 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  from  the  London  and 
Hull  Steamship  Company.  She  had  done  seventeen 
knots,  and  probably  could  do  it  again,  and  was 
strongly  built,  though  she  was  not  intended  for  a 
dead  weight  cargo  in  deep  sea  sailing. 

In  the  eyes  of  international  law  carrying  arms,  or 
other  contraband,  for  warring  nations  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  furnishing  munitions  of  war  to  rebels, 
though  the  moral  principle,  as  I  see  it,  is  the  same. 
In  the  first  instance,  friendly  powers,  so  called,  are 
glad  to  furnish  the  warring  nations  with  guns,  with 
which  they  may  kill  each  other  off,  at  a  profit  to  their 
own  citizens.  In  this  case  it  is  a  survival  of  the 
fittest,  with  the  peaceful  nations  extending  their  sym- 
pathy to  both  of  the  fighters  and  their  aid  to  the  one 
with  the  deepest  war  chest.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
sale  of  arms  to  rebels  is  forbidden,  regardless  of  the 
fact  that  there  can  be  no  revolution  without  a  rebel- 
lion, and  that  it  is  only  through  revolution,  which  is 
simply  evolution,  that  mankind  has  advanced  out  of 
the  so-called  dark  ages,  even  though  they  may  have 
been,  after  all,  the  best.  With  the  rebels,  no  matter 
how  lofty  the  principles  they  are  fighting  for,  it  is 
not  at  all  a  question  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  but 
the  perpetuation  of  the  government  that  is,  no  mat- 

[238] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

ter  how  bad.  The  "  comity  of  nations "  is  such  a 
fearsome  bugaboo  that  those  who  revolt  against  the 
established  order  of  things,  however  galling  it  may 
be,  are  frowned  upon  by  all  nations  and  given  no 
rights  at  all.  To  furnish  them  with  arms  is  a  crime ; 
a  violation  of  a  law  which,  I  am  glad  to  say,  I  never 
have  respected. 

In  the  case  of  Peru  and  Bolivia  and  Chile  it  was  a 
war  of  nations,  with  all  of  the  other  powers  smiling 
approval;  therefore  no  trans-shipment  of  the  cargo, 
at  Amsterdam,  or  some  other  convenient  clearing 
house,  was  necessary.  Secrecy  was  required  only  to 
keep  from  the  Chilean  Government  knowledge  of  the 
fact  that  arms  had  been  shipped  to  Peru  and,  if  that 
could  not  be  done,  to  prevent  it  from  discovering  the 
vessel  on  which  they  had  been  despatched.  We  got 
the  cargo  aboard  without,  so  far  as  could  be  seen, 
arousing  the  suspicion  of  the  Chilean  agents,  though 
there  was  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  they  knew  of 
the  purchase  of  the  guns.  We  then  took  on  as  much 
coal  as  the  ship  would  carry,  including  a  lot  of 
smokeless,  and  got  out,  ostensibly  headed  for  Japan. 
I  promptly  rechristened  the  ship  the  "Salome"  and 
prepared  a  set  of  papers  which  indicated  that  we 
were  bound  for  Guayaquil,  Ecuador,  with  a  general 
cargo.  We  put  in  at  St.  Vincent,  in  the  Cape  Verde 

[239] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

Islands,  for  coal,  and,  for  the  same  purpose,  at  Per* 
nambuco  and  Montevideo.  At  the  latter  port  I  took 
on  every  pound  of  coal  the  ship  would  hold,  includ- 
ing a  deckload,  for  it  was  a  long  run  from  there  to 
Callao. 

I  did  not  take  a  chance  on  going  through  the  nar- 
row Straits  of  Magellan,  and  right  past  the  Chilean 
port  of  Punta  Arenas,  but  went  clear  around  the 
Horn.  On  the  way  down  to  the  Horn  from  Monte- 
video I  stood  far  out,  for  I  suspected  that  the  Chil- 
anos  might  have  a  ship  doing  sentry  duty  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  east  coast  and,  while  I  had  no  fear 
that  she  could  run  me  down,  I  wished  to  avoid  all  sus- 
picion. When  we  rounded  the  Horn  I  headed 
straight  west  for  three  days,  until  we  were  well  clear 
of  the  coast  and  outside  of  the  regular  course,  and 
then  steamed  due  north  until  we  reached  the  latitude 
of  Callao.  Then  we  began  burning  our  smokeless 
coal  and  headed  in,  slowly  and  cautiously.  When 
we  were  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  offshore  I  sighted 
the  smoke  of  a  vessel  coming  down  from  the  north, 
and,  soon  afterward,  another  one  approaching  from 
the  south.  Experience  and  that  sixth  sense  which 
every  successful  blockade  runner  must  possess,  told 
me  that  they  were  two  of  the  blockading  fleet.  I 
stayed  so  far  down  on  the  horizon  that  I  could  make 

[240] 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  "  LECKWITH  " 

out  nothing  but  their  smoke  and  watched  them  as 
they  approached  each  other,  met,  and  drew  apart.  I 
waited  until  each  of  them  was,  as  nearly  as  I  could 
calculate  it,  as  far  from  what  my  course  would  be 
as  I  was  from  the  harbor,  and  then  made  a  dash  for  it, 
taking  chances  on  finding  one  or  two  guard  ships  on 
post  right  in  front  of  the  city,  and  prepared  to  show 
them  my  heels  the  moment  I  sighted  them.  Luckily, 
there  were  no  ships  off  the  harbor  nor  did  either  of 
the  patrol  ships  sight  me,  and  I  sailed  up  to  the  gov- 
ernment dock  with  no  more  trouble  than  if  I  had 
been  going  into  Liverpool.  The  guns  were  taken  out 
and  I  received  my  money,  which  was  the  easiest  I 
had  ever  honestly  earned,  but  it  was  because  I  under- 
stood the  game  and  had  been  careful. 

While  the  cargo  was  being  unshipped  the  block- 
aders  learned  that  I  had  run  past  them  and,  to  get 
even  with  me,  I  suppose,  they  laid  in  wait  for  us  to 
come  out.  That  did  not  worry  me,  however.  I  was 
in  no  particular  hurry  to  leave  and  waited  until  they 
were  weary  of  watching.  Then,  on  a  dark  night,  I 
stole  out,  hugged  the  shore  to  the  south  and  slipped 
away  from  them,  without  having  as  much  as  a  hail 
thrown  at  me.  I  restored  the  ship  to  her  proper 
name  and  self  but  took  the  same  course  back  again 

[241] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

around  the  Horn  to  keep  clear  of  any  entangling 
alliances  with  the  Chilean  warships.  I  put  in  at 
Buenos  Ayres  for  coal,  picked  up  a  cargo  for  Liver- 
pool, and  on  my  arrival  there  resold  the  ship  for  a 
few  thousand  dollars  less  than  I  had  paid  for  her. 


[242] 


CHAPTER   XI 
STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

IN  the  old  days,  when  I  was  cavorting  with  con- 
traband throughout  the  West  Indies  and  South 
America,  I  ran  into  one  unpleasant  incident  which 
left  me  with  a  large  moral,  —  or  immoral,  according 
to  the  point  of  view,  —  obligation  on  my  hands.  Dur- 
ing a  quiet  spell  I  had  bought,  at  a  bargain,  a  little 
schooner  at  St.  Thomas,  loaded  her  with  mahogany 
at  Santo  Domingo,  and  started  for  Liverpool,  to  see 
what  was  going  on  in  that  part  of  the  world.  We 
were  caught  in  a  heavy  gale  and  were  forced  to  run 
into  Yarmouth,  Nova  Scotia,  where  we  arrived  in  a 
sinking  condition.  On  the  false  charge  that  my 
papers  were  forged  the  agent  for  Lloyds',  with  whom 
the  ship  was  insured,  seized  the  vessel  as  I  was  hav- 
ing her  repaired,  and  had  me  arrested  for  barratry. 
I  was  taken  to  Halifax,  where  I  was  put  to  consid- 
erable inconvenience  in  securing  bail.  I  pleaded  my 
own  case  and,  as  soon  as  I  could  get  a  hearing,  was 
released,  but  in  the  meantime  the  agent  for  the  under- 
writers had  libelled  my  ship  and  sold  her  at  auction, 
and  her  new  owners  had  sent  her  away  to  South 

[243] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

America.  It  was  a  downright  steal  but  I  did  not  con- 
sider it  worth  my  while  to  stay  there  and  fight  the 
case,  so  I  simply  swore  to  some  day  make  Lloyds' 
pay  dearly  for  the  loss  of  my  ship,  and  let  it  go  at 
that  for  the  time  being. 

My  last  real  adventure  had  ended  with  the  burial 
of  the  "  Leckwith,"  for  there  had  been  nothing  thrill- 
ing in  the  delivery  of  the  arms  I  had  carried  to  Mon- 
tenegro and  Peru,  and  I  was  hungry  for  some  new 
excitement,  the  very  essence  and  sole  enjoyment  of 
my  life.  While  casting  about  for  something  to  sat- 
isfy my  appetite  the  recollection  of  the  Yarmouth 
outrage  came  over  me  and  I  decided  to  steal  a  ship 
and  let  the  underwriters  pay  for  her,  as  partial  com- 
pensation for  the  one  they  had  stolen  from  me.  After 
a  survey  of  the  available  supply,  following  my  return 
to  London  from  Peru,  late  in  the  Summer  of  1879,  I 
hit  on  the  "  Ferret,"  a  handsome  and  fairly  fast  little 
passenger  steamer  belonging  to  the  Highland  Rail- 
way Company,  which  was  lying  at  Gourock  Bay  on 
the  Clyde.  They  would  not  let  her  out  on  a  general 
charter,  which  was  what  I  wanted,  so  I  concluded  to 
charter  her  for  a  year  for  a  cruise  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, with  the  option  of  purchase  for  fourteen  thou- 
sand pounds  at  the  end  of  that  time.  All  of  the 
negotiations  were  conducted  and  the  deal  closed  by 

[244] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

Joe  Wilson,  my  trusted  aide,  and  I  was  careful  to 
impress  him  with  the  necessity  for  the  insertion  of 
the  option  of  purchase  clause.  I  had  so  much  con- 
fidence in  him  that  I  did  not  closely  examine  the 
charter  papers  and  not  until  it  was  too  late  did  I 
discover  that  he  had  neglected  to  cover  the  one  vital 
point.  My  plan  was  to  go  back  out  East  and  dig  up 
the  guns  which  Frank  Norton  and  I  had  buried  on 
a  little  island  when  we  left  the  China  Sea,  and  per- 
haps, if  I  found  that  I  could  stand  it  to  revisit  the 
scenes  of  the  supreme  joy  and  sadness  which  had 
come  to  me  with  the  discovery  of  the  Beautiful 
White  Devil,  resume  the  unholy  occupation  of  prey- 
ing on  the  pirates  between  Singapore  and  Hong 
Kong.  I  wanted  the  option  of  purchase  clause 
inserted  in  the  charter  partly  as  a  sop  to  my  con- 
science and  partly  with  the  idea  that  if  we  were,  by 
any  remote  chance,  apprehended  before  we  reached 
the  China  Sea,  I  could  announce  that  I  had  exercised 
my  option  and  was  prepared  to  pay  for  the  ship.  I 
was  not  sure  that  my  conscience,  for  I  still  had  one, 
would  let  me  carry  the  deal  through,  and  I  figured 
that  I  could  comfort  it,  if  it  troubled  me  too  much, 
with  the  assurance  that  I  might  really  buy  the  ship 
after  all,  though  I  am  frank  to  say  I  had  no  such 
intention. 

[245] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

With  the  delivery  of  the  charter,  in  proper  form  as 
I  supposed,  I  made  a  great  show  of  fitting  the  ship 
out  for  a  yachting  cruise,  at  the  same  time  smuggling 
on  board  two  small  cannon  and  a  lot  of  rifles  and 
ammunition.  Lorensen,  my  old  captain,  was  seri- 
ously ill,  so  I  took  on  as  sailing  master  a  man 
named  Watkins.  He  was  well  recommended  but  it 
later  developed  that  he  had  a  strain  of  negro  blood 
and  a  well-defined  streak  of  yellow.  Tom  Leigh,  one 
of  my  old  men,  was  first  officer,  and  next  to  him 
was  George  Ross,  another  new  one.  We  coaled  at 
Cardiff  and  cleared  for  Malaga.  We  passed  Gibraltar 
late  in  the  afternoon,  as  was  intended,  and  signalled 
"  All  well "  to  the  observer  for  Lloyds'.  As  soon  as 
it  was  dark  we  headed  over  toward  the  other  shore 
for  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  and  then  stood  straight  out 
to  sea  again.  As  we  made  the  second  change  in  our 
course  we  stove  in  a  couple  of  our  boats  and  threw 
them  overboard,  along  with  a  lot  of  life  preservers. 
I  wanted  to  make  it  appear  that  the  "Ferret"  had 
foundered,  and  we  ran  into  a  heavy  blow  which  dove- 
tailed beautifully  into  my  scheme.  At  daylight  we 
were  well  clear  of  Gibraltar  but  within  sight  of  the 
Morrocan  coast.  I  called  the  crew  aft  and  addressed 
them  to  this  effect: 

"Taking  advantage  of  the  option  of  purchase 
[246] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

clause  in  the  charter,  I  now  declare  myself  the  owner 
of  this  ship  and  will  pay  for  her,  as  stipulated,  at  the 
end  of  the  period  for  which  she  is  chartered.  We  are 
going  on  a  very  different  trip  from  that  for  which 
you  signed.  It  will  be  attended  by  some  danger  but, 
probably,  by  profits  which  will  more  than  compensate 
you  for  the  risk  you  run.  Those  of  you  who  wish  to 
go  with  me  will  receive  double  pay,  a  bonus  of  fifty 
dollars  for  signing  new  papers,  and  a  share  of  the 
profits  from  the  trip.  Those  who  do  not  care  to  go 
may  take  a  boat  and  go  ashore." 

Every  man  agreed  to  stay  with  me.  I  thereupon 
rechristened  the  ship  the  "India,"  a  name  legiti- 
mately held  by  a  vessel  on  the  other  side  of  the 
world,  as  was  indicated  by  Lloyds'  register,  fired  a 
gun  and  dipped  the  flag  and  declared  her  in  com- 
mission. At  the  same  time  I  rechristened  myself,  a 
ceremony  to  which  I  was  equally  accustomed,  and 
took  the  name  of  James  Stuart  Henderson.  I  pre- 
sented the  ship  with  a  new  log  and  certificate  of 
registry  and  other  necessary  papers,  from  the  coun- 
terfeit blanks  I  always  carried,  and  all  of  the  men 
signed  the  new  articles.  We  then  headed  for  Santos, 
Brazil,  with  the  idea  of  keeping  clear  of  British 
waters  until  the  loss  of  the  "Ferret"  had  become  an 
established  fact.  On  the  way  the  brass  plate  on  the 

[247] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

main  beam,  showing  that  the  engines  were  built  for 
the  "Ferret,"  was  removed,  and  the  new  name  took 
the  place  of  the  old  one  everywhere  about  the  ship. 
The  chart  room  and  wheel  house  were  taken  off  the 
bridge  and  rebuilt  over  the  wheel  amidships.  Some 
of  the  upper  works  were  stripped  away  and  the  whole 
appearance  of  the  vessel  was  changed  to  such  an 
extent  that  even  her  builders  would  hardly  have 
recognized  her. 

At  Santos  I  bought  outright  a  cargo  of  coffee  and 
headed  for  Cape  Town,  South  Africa,  where  I  con- 
signed it  to  Wm.  G.  Anderson  &  Son,  with  instruc- 
tions to  sell  it  for  cash,  and  quickly.  On  the  trip 
across  the  Atlantic,  Ross,  the  second  officer,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  boldest  at  first,  all  at  once  became 
very  anxious  regarding  the  outcome  of  the  trip  and 
his  future  welfare.  Watkins,  the  sailing  master,  who 
had  shown  a  domineering  nature  that  I  did  not  like, 
also  hoisted  the  white  feather.  Griffin,  too,  the  chief 
engineer,  displayed  some  symptoms  of  cold  feet,  but 
he  was  a  brave  man  at  heart  and  his  trouble  was 
easily  cured.  I  allowed  Ross  to  return  to  England 
from  Cape  Town,  and  Watkins  caught  the  gold  fever 
and  started  for  Pretoria.  I  had  no  fear  that  either 
of  them  would  engage  in  any  unwise  talk,  for  both 
had  signed  forged  articles  with  their  eyes  wide  open. 

[248] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

I  made  Leigh  sailing  master  and  we  cleared  light  for 
Australia,  with  a  short  stop  at  the  Mauritius  for  coal. 
We  coaled  again  at  Albany,  West  Australia.  From 
there  we  went  to  Port  Adelaide,  South  Australia, 
and  then  on  to  Melbourne,  where  we  came  to  grief. 
Off  Port  Philip  Head  we  signalled  for  a  pilot  and 
a  canny  Scot  came  aboard.  He  seemed  suspicious 
of  us  from  the  first  and  I  noticed  that  he  was  study- 
ing the  ship  closely  as  we  steamed  up  to  an  anchor- 
age off  Williamstown.  Two  young  royal  princes 
had  just  arrived  on  a  British  fleet  and  there  were 
gala  goings-on  when  we  entered  the  harbor. 

I  landed  at  once  and  went  to  the  Civil  Service 
Club  Hotel  to  recuperate  from  a  bad  case  of  malaria 
which  I  had  contracted  at  the  Mauritius.  While  not 
alarmed  by  the  apparent  suspicion  of  the  pilot,  I  was 
impressed  by  it,  and  gave  strict  orders  to  Leigh  to 
allow  no  one  to  come  aboard.  Leigh's  one  weakness 
was  drink  and  to  guard  against  his  becoming  help- 
lessly intoxicated  I  instructed  Wilson  to  either 
remain  on  board  or  visit  the  ship  every  day.  My 
fever  grew  worse  after  I  went  ashore  and  in  two  or 
three  days  the  doctor  decided  that  I  should  have  a 
nurse,  as  I  was  all  alone.  The  doctor  was  with  me 
when  the  nurse  arrived  and  as  he  entered  the  door 
the  doctor  made  a  quick  movement  as  though  some- 

[249] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

thing  had  startled  him,  and  looked  from  one  of  us 
to  the  other  in  amazement.  I  could  not  imagine 
what  had  happened  until  he  said:  "That  man  looks 
enough  like  you  to  be  your  twin  brother.  I  never 
have  seen  such  a  resemblance  between  two  men." 

I  surveyed  the  nurse  more  critically  and  saw  that 
we  did  look  strangely  alike,  even  to  the  scarred  face. 
He  had  a  scar  on  his  left  cheek,  whereas  mine  is  on 
my  right,  and  it  was  shorter  than  mine,  but  it  served 
to  heighten  our  resemblance.  We  could  not  have 
been  more  alike  in  build  if  we  had  been  cast  from 
the  same  mould,  and  any  one  who  did  not  know  us 
intimately  could  easily  have  been  excused  for  taking 
one  of  us  for  the  other.  The  nurse  said  his  name 
was  William  Nourse  and  that  he  had  arrived  in  Mel- 
bourne only  two  or  three  days  before  from  Tasmania, 
where  he  had  worked  in  the  Hobartstown  hospital. 
As  we  got  better  acquainted  he  told  me  he  had  had  a 
run  of  hard  luck  in  Hobartstown;  that  his  wife  had 
deserted  him  and  he  had  taken  to  drink  and  lost  his 
position,  and  that  he  had  come  to  Australia  to  make 
a  fresh  start. 

While  I  was  recovering  at  the  hotel  events  were 
transpiring  in  connection  with  the  ship  which  tended 
to  dissuade  my  spirit  from  becoming  overproud. 
Wilson,  it  developed,  soon  relaxed  his  vigilance  and 

[250] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

gave  himself  up  to  pleasures  ashore  but  without  com- 
ing near  me,  whereupon  old  Leigh  blithely  betook 
himself  to  his  beloved  bottle.  After  a  few  days  the 
shrewd  Scotch  pilot  paid  the  ship  a  friendly  visit, 
found  Leigh  full  three  sheets  in  the  wind,  encouraged 
him  to  proceed  with  his  potations  until  he  fell  asleep, 
and  then  went  over  the  ship  at  his  leisure,  taking 
measurements  and  making  observations.  Naturally, 
her  measurements  corresponded  exactly  with  those  of 
the  "Ferret,"  which  had  been  reported  as  missing  with 
a  probability  that  she  had  gone  down  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  he  reported  his  suspicions  and  the  result 
of  his  investigation  to  the  authorities.  Being  a 
Scotchman  he  was  not  actuated  so  much  by  honesty 
and  a  desire  that  right  should  prevail  as  by  the 
expectation  of  a  substantial  reward.  The  ship  was 
promptly  seized  for  some  technical  violation  of  the 
port  regulations,  which  gave  the  officials  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  a  detailed  inspection  and  take  all  of 
her  measurements,  and  Leigh  and  the  few  members 
of  the  crew  who  were  on  board  when  the  seizure 
was  made  were  detained  there.  Leigh  refused  to  say 
a  word  but  one  or  two  of  the  crew,  believing  the  fat 
was  in  the  fire  and  wishing  to  save  their  own  bacon, 
told  enough  to  confirm  all  of  the  suspicions  that  were 
entertained  regarding  us.  Leigh  was  then  formally 

[251] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

placed  under  arrest  and  search  was  instituted  for 
Wilson  and  me. 

I  was  greatly  surprised  when,  late  one  afternoon 
about  ten  days  after  our  arrival  at  Melbourne,  I 
received  word  from  Joe  that  the  ship  had  been  recog- 
nized as  the  "  Ferret "  and  seized,  that  he  had  taken 
to  the  bush  and  that  I  had  better  disappear  as  quickly 
and  quietly  as  possible  if  I  wished  to  escape  arrest, 
for  the  officers  were  looking  for  both  of  us.  Fearful, 
for  the  first  time,  that  Joe  had  made  a  mistake,  and 
cursing  my  carelessness,  I  dug  into  my  papers  and 
discovered  that  the  charter  contained  no  option  of 
purchase  clause.  That  made  it  serious  business  and 
I  understood  why  Joe  had  taken  such  precipitate 
flight.  I  knew  if  I  stayed  at  the  hotel  my  arrest 
was  only  a  matter  of  a  few  hours  and  that  if  I  sought 
to  escape,  the  chances  were  that  I  would  be  caught, 
but  I  determined  to  make  a  try  for  it.  By  that  time 
I  was  able  to  be  up  and  walk  around  my  room, 
though  I  had  not  left  it,  but  I  had  Nourse  pass  the 
word  around  the  hotel  that  I  had  had  a  serious 
relapse  and  was  in  such  a  precarious  condition  that 
I  must  not  be  disturbed  by  visitors  nor  by  any  noise 
near  my  rooms. 

I  told  Nourse  that  a  warrant  was  out  for  my  arrest 
on  some  technical  violation  of  the  port  regulations 

[252] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

and  that,  while  I  had  no  fear  of  the  result  of  a  trial, 
I  did  not  feel  strong  enough  to  go  through  it,  and 
therefore  I  intended  to  leave  at  once  and  secretly  and 
stay  away  until  the  trouble  blew  over.  He  agreed 
to  go  with  me  and  soon  after  dark  we  left  the  hotel 
quietly  by  a  rear  entrance  which  opened  onto  an 
alley.  I  left  behind  all  of  my  luggage  except  a  bag 
in  which  I  carried  about  five  thousand,  five  hun- 
dred pounds  in  gold  and  Bank  of  England  notes,  and 
a  few  articles  of  clothing.  We  engaged  a  carriage 
and  drove  to  a  suburb  on  the  railroad  running  to 
Sydney,  where  we  stayed  all  night,  as  all  of  the  even- 
ing trains  had  left.  My  idea  was  to  get  to  Sydney 
or  Newcastle,  where  I  hoped  to  bribe  the  captain  of 
some  outgoing  ship  to  take  me  on  board  as  a  stow- 
away. We  took  the  morning  train  and  rode  as  far  as 
Seymour,  about  seventy-five  miles  from  Melbourne. 
There  we  hired  a  rig  and  drove  across  country  to 
Longwood,  where  we  picked  up  the  railroad  after  it 
had  passed  an  important  junction  point  which  I 
wished  to  avoid  as  I  feared  the  officers  would  be 
watching  for  us  there.  On  the  long  drive  to  Long- 
wood  I  became  convinced  that  my  capture  was  cer- 
tain, for  the  country  was  so  thinly  settled  that  we 
were  sure  to  attract  attention  and  be  easily  followed, 
if  we  undertook  to  drive  through  it,  while  if  I  stuck 

[253] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

to  the  railroad  I  was  sure  to  be  apprehended.  In 
seeking  some  new  way  out  of  the  dilemma  I  conceived 
the  idea  of  having  Nourse  take  my  place.  There  was 
no  reason  that  money  could  not  remove  to  prevent 
him  from  doing  so,  for  neither  of  us  was  known,  and 
a  physical  description,  such  as  the  police  would  have, 
would  fit  either  of  us.  I  was  becoming  more  and 
more  apprehensive  of  danger  and  as  we  neared  Long- 
wood  I  put  the  proposition  up  to  him. 

"What  do  you  say,  Nourse,  to  changing  places 
with  me  and  letting  yourself  be  arrested,  if  it  comes 
to  that  ?  I  will  engage  a  good  lawyer  to  defend  you 
and  even  if  you  should  be  convicted,  which  I  doubt, 
you  would  not  have  to  spend  more  than  a  few  months 
in  jail,  at  the  most.  You  are  strong  and  could  stand 
the  confinement,  while  it  would  about  put  me  under 
the  turf.  According  to  your  own  story  there  is  no 
one  who  cares  what  trouble  you  get  into,  and  even 
if  you  went  to  jail  you  probably  would  be  as  happy 
there  as  anywhere.  How  much  will  you  take  to  do 
it?" 

"  I  had  been  thinking  of  that  very  thing,"  he  replied. 
"I  don't  care  much  what  happens  to  me,  but  I  am 
not  exactly  hungry  for  a  long  term  in  Pentridge.  If 
this  thing  is  no  worse  than  you  say  it  is,  though,  I  '11 

[2S4] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

swap  places  with  you  and  see  it  through  for  two 
hundred  pounds." 

I  accepted  his  terms  without  argument.  He 
already  knew  enough  about  me  so  that  he  could 
adopt  my  identity,  without  fear  of  detection  except 
under  a  searching  inquiry,  but  I  quickly  framed  up  a 
life  history  for  him  and  told  him  the  full  and  true 
story  of  the  "  Ferret."  I  cautioned  him,  however,  if 
he  was  arrested,  to  make  no  statement  of  any  kind 
until  he  had  talked  with  the  lawyer  I  would  send  to 
him.  As  soon  as  we  reached  Longwood  we  ex- 
changed clothing,  even  down  to  our  underwear,  socks, 
and  shoes.  Nourse  was  transformed  into  James 
Stuart  Henderson,  dressed  by  Pool  of  London,  and  I 
became  a  rather  shabbily  attired  nurse.  I  paid 
Nourse  his  money,  which  relieved  me  of  most  of  my 
load  of  gold,  and  concealed  the  rest  of  my  money  in 
my  rough  and  roomy  shoes  and  under  my  more  or 
less  dirty  garments. 

We  had  just  finished  dinner  and  were  sitting  alone 
in  the  hotel  office,  rehearsing  the  part  Nourse  was 
to  play,  when  a  sergeant  ard  two  officers,  who  had 
got  track  of  us  at  Seymour,  rode  up  on  horseback. 
We  saw  them  through  the  window  and  I  moved  back 
into  the  shadow  for,  though  I  did  not  look  greatly 
unlike  Nourse  in  our  changed  garb,  I  did  not  wish  the 

[255] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

officers  to  notice  our  facial  resemblance.  With  only 
a  glance  at  me  they  walked  right  up  to  Nourse  and 
placed  him  under  arrest.  He  professed  amazement 
but  readily  admitted  that  he  was  James  Stuart  Hen- 
derson. He  said  he  was  driving  through  the  country, 
with  a  nurse,  for  his  health,  having  just  recovered 
from  the  fever. 

The  orders  of  the  officers  called  for  the  arrest  of 
only  one  man  so  I  was  not  interfered  with.  They 
were  after  big  game  and,  much  to  my  satisfaction, 
considered  me  hardly  worthy  of  their  notice.  Still 
anxious  to  avoid  close  range  comparison  with 
Nourse,  I  did  not  return  to  Melbourne  on  the  same 
train  with  them  the  next  morning,  but  went  down 
by  the  one  that  followed  it.  I  kept  well  clear  of  the 
jail  to  which  the  bogus  Henderson  had  been  hustled 
and  went  to  a  little  hotel  on  Swanston  Street,  kept  by 
a  German  named  Hellwig.  The  first  thing  I  heard 
was  that  Joe,  who  had  taken  the  train  ahead  of  me, 
had  been  captured  at  Albury,  where  the  railroad 
crosses  the  Murray  River,  which  divides  Victoria 
from  New  South  Wales,  and  was  on  his  way  back,  in 
charge  of  an  officer,  to  join  Leigh  and  my  counterfeit 
presentment  behind  the  bars. 

I  at  once  engaged  Jarvis,  the  best  barrister  in 
Australia,  to  defend  them,  and  later  employed  Gillette 

[256] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

&  Stanton,  another  high-class  firm,  to  assist  him.  I 
told  them,  of  course,  the  real  facts,  and  had  them 
instruct  Leigh  and  Joe  to  coach  Nourse  in  the  part 
he  was  to  play  and  to  maintain  the  proper  attitude 
toward  him.  The  moment  Leigh  saw  "  Henderson " 
he  knew  there  was  something  wrong  somewhere  but 
he  was  too  shrewd  to  indicate  it  and  greeted  the  new- 
comer cordially.  I  had  described  Leigh  to  Nourse  so 
that  he  could  not  mistake  him  and  he  walked  right 
up  to  him  and  shook  hands.  When  Joe  joined  them 
in  jail  Leigh  got  to  him  first  and  posted  him.  They 
were  charged  with  conspiracy  and  barratry  and  were 
indicted,  altogether,  on  seven  counts. 

Nourse  was  as  game  as  a  hornet  and  played  his  part 
well,  yet  he  was  not  born  a  gentleman  and  he  was 
altogether  lacking  in  that  savoir  faire  which  is  re- 
garded as  a  necessary  makeup  of  the  typical  soldier 
of  fortune,  which  Henderson  was  supposed  to  be. 
George  Smyth,  the  prosecuting  attorney,  was  a 
shrewd  chap,  as  well  as  a  gilt-edged  sea  lawyer,  and 
it  was  not  long  until  he  began  to  suspect  that  he  had 
a  bogus  Henderson  in  limbo  and  that  the  real  rav- 
isher  of  maritime  law  was  still  at  liberty.  Some  of 
the  other  officials  came  to  doubt  that  they  had  the 
right  man  and  this  suspicion  became  so  strong  by  the 
time  the  trial  came  on  that  they  had  detectives  out 

[257] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

quietly  searching  for  the  real  Henderson.  This 
information  reached  the  lawyers  whom  I  had 
employed,  but  whom  I  saw  infrequently  as  I  remained 
discreetly  in  the  background,  and  they  insisted,  as 
they  had  previously  suggested,  that  I  go  away  until 
the  case  was  concluded. 

"  This  case  is  much  more  serious  than  you  realize," 
said  Gillette,  as  he  again  urged  me  to  leave  Melbourne 
for  my  own  protection,  or  go  into  close  hiding  and 
stay  there.  "Unfortunately,  Nourse  is  not  nearly  so 
clever  as  you.  You  are  damned  clever,  but  you  are 
not  clever  enough  to  avoid  being  nabbed  if  you  stay 
around  here  while  the  trial  is  on." 

"  I  think  you  're  wrong,"  I  told  him,  "  but  I  'm  pay- 
ing you  for  your  advice  and  if  it  is  good  enough  to 
buy  it  ought  to  be  good  enough  to  take.  I  '11  go  out 
and  bury  myself." 

"  Right,"  he  said.  "  See  that  you  make  a  good  job 
of  it." 

"  I  will,"  I  replied.  "  I  am  going  to  bury  myself 
in  a  real  tomb." 

The  lawyer  looked  up  a  bit  startled.  "You  don't 
mean  that  you  intend  to  kill  yourself? "  he  asked 
with  some  anxiety. 

I  laughed  at  him.  "Not  much,"  I  told  him.  "I 
like  to  explore  strange  lands  but  I  always  want  to 

[258] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

come  back.  If  there  really  are  any  detectives  on  my 
trail,  the  last  place  they  will  look  for  me  is  the  ceme- 
tery, and  I  will  go  out  there  and  cache  myself  away 
in  Sir  William  Clark's  tomb.  It  is  an  ideal  hiding 
place,  so  far  as  security  is  concerned,  and  you  can 
devote  all  of  your  thought  to  the  trial,  without  any 
fear  that  I  will  be  discovered  and  disarrange  things." 

"But  people  are  buried  in  there,"  exclaimed  the 
man  of  law  with  a  show  of  horror  which  evidenced 
great  reverence  for  the  dead. 

"  So  much  the  better  for  my  purpose,"  I  said,  as 
I  walked  out  of  his  office.  "  I  'm  off  for  my  tomb." 

The  idea  of  using  the  Clark  tomb,  which  I  had  pre- 
viously noticed  while  walking  through  the  cemetery, 
as  a  hiding  place,  had  come  to  me  while  the  lawyer 
was  urgently  renewing  his  advice  to  me  to  get  under 
cover  until  the  conclusion  of  the  trial.  The  mauso- 
leum was  in  an  out-of-the-way  corner  of  the  dead 
city  and  I  knew  that  if  I  could  get  inside  of  it  I  would 
be  safe  from  intrusion.  It  was  about  twelve  by  six- 
teen feet  in  size  and  was  closed  with  a  solid  iron  door, 
but  above  it  was  a  grating  which  would  furnish 
plenty  of  ventilation. 

The  landlord  of  the  hotel  where  I  was  stopping 
had  a  delightful  Dutch  daughter,  with  whom  I  had 
become  very  friendly,  and  when  I  returned  there  after 

[259] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

my  talk  with  the  lawyer,  she  informed  me  that  two 
men  had  been  around  making  guarded  inquiries 
regarding  a  man  answering  my  description.  She 
took  them  for  detectives,  she  said,  and  without  know- 
ing or  suspecting  why  they  were  looking  for  me  she 
had  thrown  them  off  the  scent.  This  convinced  me 
that  there  was  a  chase  on,  after  all,  and  that  it  was 
getting  so  hot  that  I  had  no  time  to  lose. 

With  a  blanket  wrapped  about  the  upper  part  of 
my  body,  and  with  the  pockets  of  Nourse's  dirty  old 
white  overcoat  stuffed  with  pilot  bread,  canned 
meats,  candles,  a  dark  lantern,  and  books,  I  went  out 
to  the  cemetery  that  evening.  I  had  some  doubt 
about  being  able  to  get  into  the  tomb  but  I  succeeded 
in  picking  the  lock  with  a  piece  of  heavy  wire  and  pro- 
ceeded to  take  up  my  abode  with  the  departed  Clarks. 
There  were  three  of  them  and  from  the  sizes  of  the 
caskets  I  took  them  to  be  father,  mother,  and  child. 
There  was  one  unoccupied  niche  and  in  that  I  ar- 
ranged my  bed,  with  my  blanket  and  Nourse's 
overcoat. 

I  lived  in  the  tomb  for  three  weeks  without  arous- 
ing the  slightest  suspicion  that  it  was  occupied.  My 
surroundings  did  not  worry  me  at  all  —  in  fact  I 
never  had  such  quiet  and  orderly  companions  —  and 
after  I  had  adapted  myself  to  them  I  was  fairly  com- 

[260] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

fortable.  My  meals  were  simple  to  a  degree  that 
would  have  delighted  a  social  settlement  worker. 
I  was  accustomed  to  softer  beds,  but  the  change  did 
me  no  harm.  I  did  most  of  my  sleeping  during  the 
day,  when  I  could  not  smoke  without  fear  of  being 
discovered,  and  every  night,  between  midnight  and 
dawn,  I  took  a  walk  through  the  cemetery.  Twice  a 
week,  at  an  appointed  rendezvous,  I  met  the  land- 
lord's daughter,  who  brought  me  a  fresh  supply  of 
canned  stuff,  bread,  and  reading  matter,  and  the  latest 
news  of  the  trial.  Twice,  toward  the  last  of  it,  when 
I  was  very  hungry  I  ventured  into  the  outskirts  of 
the  city  and  filled  up  at  a  cheap  eating  house.  Dur- 
ing the  early  morning  and  evening  I  read  by  the  light 
of  the  dark  lantern,  which  was  so  placed,  with  the 
blanket  as  a  screen,  that  its  rays  could  not  be  seen 
through  the  grating  over  the  door.  By  the  time  the 
trial  was  well  over  and  I  was  free  to  come  out  I  had 
fallen  into  the  routine  of  my  new  hotel  and  was  so 
well  situated  that,  if  I  could  have  been  assured  of 
about  three  square  meals  a  week,  I  would  not  have 
complained  greatly  if  I  had  been  forced  to  stay  there 
six  months. 

The  trial  was  held  before  Judge  Williams  and 
resulted  in  a  conviction.  I  had  expected  no  other 
verdict,  for  with  the  option  of  purchase  clause  missing 

[261] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

from  the  charter  it  was  a  clear  case.  The  lawyers  for 
the  defence  contended,  of  course,  that  Henderson 
had  announced  that  he  had  purchased  the  ship  and 
that  only  his  illness  had  prevented  him  from  so  advis- 
ing her  owners,  but  they  could  not  satisfactorily 
explain  why  he  and  Wilson  had  taken  to  the  bush 
•when  the  vessel  was  seized.  Nourse  was  subjected 
to  a  most  severe  examination  by  the  prosecuting 
attorney  in  an  effort  to  prove  that  he  was  not  the  real 
Henderson,  but  he  had  been  thoroughly  coached  by 
Joe  and  Leigh  and  acquitted  himself  so  well  that 
much  of  the  suspicion  which  had  been  entertained 
that  he  was  playing  a  part  was  removed,  but  not  all 
of  it. 

The  crucial  moment  came  when  the  clerk  of  the 
court  called  out,  "James  Stuart  Henderson,  stand 
up,"  and  Judge  Williams  asked  him  if  he  knew  of 
any  reason  why  sentence  should  not  be  passed  upon 
him.  According  to  the  lawyers,  the  situation  was 
intensely  dramatic.  The  judge,  the  prosecuting 
attorney,  and  all  of  the  more  or  less  skeptical  offi- 
cials, were  boring  holes  through  poor  Nourse's  head 
with  their  eyes.  He  had  but  to  open  his  mouth  to 
clear  himself  and  start  every  officer  in  Australia  on  a 
hunt  for  me  from  which  I  would  have  found  it  hard 
to  escape,  but  he  was  true  blue.  He  looked  back  at 
the  judge  bravely  and  simply  said,  "No,  sir." 

[262] 


STEALING  A  BRITISH  SHIP 

Nourse  and  Wilson  were  sentenced  to  seven  years 
and  Leigh  to  three  and  one-half  years  in  Pentridge 
prison.  With  the  time  deducted  for  good  behavior, 
this  meant  five  years  and  three  months  for  Nourse 
and  Joe  and  less  than  three  years  for  Leigh.  When 
the  case  assumed  a  more  serious  aspect  than  I  had 
believed  it  would  when  I  bargained  with  Nourse  to 
take  my  place,  I  sent  word  to  him  that  I  would  pay 
him  well  if  he  would  "play  the  string  out,"  and  as 
soon  as  I  left  the  tomb  I  deposited  five  thousand  dol- 
lars which  was  to  be  paid  to  him  when  he  was 
released.  I  spent  some  time  and  considerable  money 
in  an  effort  to  secure  a  pardon  for  my  companions, 
but  when  I  found  that  was  impossible  I  returned  to 
England,  with  a  promise  to  be  back  in  Australia  by 
the  time  their  terms  expired.  On  the  long  trip  back 
to  London  I  spent  a  lot  of  time  in  reproaching  myself 
for  the  result  of  the  unfortunate  cruise.  It  was  the 
first  mistake  I  had  ever  made  and,  while  I  was  not 
primarily  to  blame,  the  responsibility  was  mine,  for 
I  was  at  fault  in  not  having  seen  that  all  of  the  papers 
were  in  proper  form.  That  experience  taught  me  a 
lesson  and  I  never  again  fell  into  a  blunder  of  that 
sort.  The  Highland  Railway  subsequently  sold  the 
"Ferret"  to  run  between  Albany  and  Adelaide. 

[263] 


CHAPTER   XII 
A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

T  X  7ITH  my  return  to  London  in  the  early 
^  ^  eighties,  after  I  had  been  sent  to  prison  by 
proxy  for  seven  years  in  Australia,  the  old  lure  of  the 
West  Indies,  with  their  continuous  riot  of  revolutions, 
came  over  me  so  strongly  that  I  could  not  hold  out 
against  it,  nor  did  I  try.  Frank  Norton,  my  old  partner 
in  piracy,  had  the  "Queen  of  the  Seas"  at  the  East 
Indian  docks,  where  he  was  displaying  a  ship  venti- 
lating apparatus  which  he  had  invented.  He  urged 
me  to  go  back  to  the  China  Sea  with  him  and  resume 
operations  against  the  pirates,  but  I  put  him  off. 
Soon  after  leaving  him  I  ran  into  an  English  engi- 
neer named  Tucker,  whom  I  had  known  in  Venezuela, 
and  from  him  I  learned  that  Guzman  Blanco,  the 
Dictator,  was  in  Paris,  his  foreign  capital,  from 
which  he  was  directing  the  government  of  Venezuela 
through  a  dummy  President,  and  was  anxious  to  see 
me.  I  was  not  particularly  desirous  of  seeing  him, 
however,  for  I  feared  I  could  not  resist  him,  and  I 
had  no  wish  to  again  be  tied  down  in  Caracas,  as  I 
had  been  before  when  I  was  his  confidential  agent. 

[264] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

I  was  much  more  interested  in  reports  which  reached 
me,  through  contraband  channels,  that  a  new  revolu- 
tion was  shaping  up  in  Costa  Rica,  and  that  there 
was  a  prospect  of  trouble  in  Hayti  and  even  in 
Venezuela. 

I  took  the  first  ship  for  Halifax  and  went  from 
there  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  where  I  bought 
the  fore  and  aft  schooner  "  George  V.  Richards."  She 
was  a  trim-looking  craft  of  about  one  hundred  and 
eighty  tons,  and  stanch,  but,  as  I  discovered  later, 
as  faddish  as  an  old  maid.  We  never  could  trim  her 
to  suit  her  and  she  never  behaved  twice  the  same 
under  similar  conditions.  In  the  same  weather  she 
would  settle  back  on  her  stern  like  a  balky  mule  or 
sail  like  a  racing  yacht,  just  as  the  spirit  moved  her. 
Yet  I  was  fond  of  her,  for  she  was  a  great  deal  like 
myself;  she  had  her  wits  about  her  all  of  the  time 
and  was  at  her  best  in  an  emergency.  I  took  her  to 
Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  where  I  loaded  up  with  old 
Sharps  and  Remington  rifles  and  a  lot  of  ammunition, 
and,  after  burying  them  under  sixty  tons  of  coal, 
sailed  for  Venezuela  to  see  what  was  going  on  in 
Guzman's  absence. 

Instead  of  going  direct  to  La  Guaira,  where  I  was 
well  known,  I  headed  for  Maracaibo,  the  city  that 
gave  Venezuela  its  name.  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  who  fol- 

[265] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

lowed  Columbus,  sailed  westward  along  the  coast  of 
Terra  Firme,  which  the  Great  Discoverer  had  spoken 
of  as  "the  most  beautiful  lands  in  the  world,"  to 
the  Gulf  of  Maracaibo.  There  he  found  several 
Indian  villages  built  on  piles  and,  prompted  by  this 
suggestion,  he  named  the  land  Venezuela,  or  "Little 
Venice."  Maracaibo  has  a  splendid  harbor  for  light- 
draft  vessels,  and  but  for  the  fact  that  it  has  been 
subject  to  the  whims  of  successive  plundering  presi- 
dents it  would  now  be  the  chief  city  of  the  country. 
Not  only  is  it  the  port  of  a  great  and  rich  section  of 
Venezuela,  but  it  is  the  only  outlet  for  the  coffee  and 
other  products  of  a  large  part  of  Colombia.  Ever 
since  their  separation  there  has  been  ill-feeling 
between  the  two  republics,  and  it  has  suited  the  fancy 
of  every  Venezuelan  president  since  Guzman's  day, 
Castro  being  the  chief  offender,  to  spasmodically 
shut  off  all  communication  with  Colombia,  with  con- 
sequent disastrous  effects  to  the  trade  of  Maracaibo. 
As  a  partial  offset  to  these  recurrent  embargoes,  the 
city  boasts  of  a  brand  of  yellow  fever  that  has 
actually  made  it  famous,  at  least  among  travellers  in 
South  America.  It  is  so  mild  that  it  is  seldom  fatal 
and  wise  folks  who  are  ticketed  for  the  interior  of 
Venezuela  go  to  Maracaibo  and  stay  until  they  have 
had  the  fever  and  become  immune. 

[266] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 


The  collector  of  customs  at  Maracaibo  "  borrowed  " 
a  fine  rifle  from  me,  which  is  one  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can varieties  of  graft,  and  put  me  up  at  the  club, 
where  I  was  thrown  in  friendly  contact  with  the 
people  I  wished  to  meet.  I  found  that  General  Alcan- 
tara was  acting  as  dummy  President  while  Guzman 
was  enjoying  himself  in  Europe,  and  I  soon  satisfied 
myself,  from  remarks  dropped  by  his  friends  in 
response  to  my  guarded  inquiries,  that  he  was  ambi- 
tious to  become  the  ruler  of  Venezuela  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name.  The  movement  to  overthrow  Guzman 
was,  in  fact,  taking  definite  form,  and  I  sold  a  part 
of  my  arms  to  Alcantara's  friends.  They  wanted  to 
buy  the  entire  cargo,  but  I  refused  to  part  with  it, 
on  the  ground  that  the  bulk  of  it  had  been  contracted 
for  elsewhere.  It  was  apparent  that  serious  trouble 
was  brewing  for  Guzman  and,  instead  of  proceeding 
to  Costa  Rica,  I  sailed  for  La  Guaira,  intending  to 
visit  Caracas  and  look  the  situation  over  at  close 
range. 

At  the  capital  there  was  the  same  undercurrent  of 
revolt  against  the  dictatorship  of  Guzman,  which  was 
being  secretly  encouraged  by  the  partisans  of  the  act- 
ing President.  I  called  at  the  Yellow  House  to  pay 
my  respects  to  Alcantara,  whom  I  had  known  in  Guz- 
man's army,  and  in  the  course  of  our  conversation 

[267] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

he  suggested  that  I  remain  in  Caracas  and  become 
his  friend,  as  I  had  been  Guzman's.  He  did  not  tell 
me  of  his  real  ambition  in  so  many  words,  but  I 
needed  no  binoculars  to  see  what  was  in  his  mind.  I 
at  once  wrote  Guzman  fully,  telling  him  of  Alcan- 
tara's treachery  and  describing  the  situation  as  I  had 
found  it,  and  then  sailed  for  Costa  Rica.  Guzman 
had  also  heard  of  what  was  going  on  through  other 
sources  and,  as  I  subsequently  learned,  he  returned 
to -Venezuela  a  few  months  later,  before  the  revolt 
that  was  being  hatched  had  broken  its  shell.  The 
government  was  promptly  turned  over  to  him  by 
Alcantara,  who  at  once  started  to  leave  the  country, 
evidently  fearing  that  if  he  remained  he  would  be 
summarily  sent  to  San  Carlos,  then  as  now  the 
unhappy  home  of  political  prisoners.  He  started  for 
La  Guaira  by  the  old  post  road,  along  which  were  a 
number  of  public  houses.  In  one  of  these  he  met  a 
party  of  politicians  and  while  with  them  he  died 
suddenly.  It  was  charged  by  Alcantara's  friends  that 
he  was  poisoned  by  order  of  Guzman,  who  suspected 
that  he  was  going  away  to  launch  a  revolution,  but 
the  friends  of  Guzman  claimed  that  he  ate  heartily 
of  rich  salads  while  in  a  heated  condition  and  died 
from  acute  indigestion.  The  latter  version  of  it  has 
always  been  my  view,  for  Guzman  was  not  the  man 

[268] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

to  have  an  enemy,  nor  even  a  friend  who  had  played 
him  false,  put  out  of  the  way  in  such  fashion.  Guz- 
man was  a  dictator  to  his  finger  tips,  but  he  was 
nothing  of  a  murderer. 

The  Costa  Ricans  were,  I  found,  making  one  of 
their  periodical  but  always  futile  efforts  to  depose 
their  President,  General  Tomaso  Guardia,  and  I  had 
no  difficulty  in  disposing  of  my  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion, which  I  exchanged  for  a  cargo  of  coffee.  I 
might  have  joined  the  revolution  had  I  not  become 
convinced  that  it  had  no  more  chance  of  success  than 
those  which  had  preceded  it.  Gen.  Guardia,  who 
ruled  until  he  died,  was  one  of  the  few  strong  men 
Central  America  has  produced.  He  was  the  Diaz 
of  Costa  Rica  and  as  much  of  a  dictator  as  Guzman 
Blanco,  whom  he  greatly  resembled  in  his  friendship 
for  foreigners  and  his  contempt  for  the  natives. 
When  he  heard  of  a  political  leader,  so  called,  who 
was  trying  to  stir  up  trouble,  Gen.  Guardia  would 
send  for  him  and  say:  "Your  health  has  not  been 
good  for  some  time.  I  see  that  you  are  failing.  You 
need  a  long  trip.  Go  to  Europe  and  stay  a  year,"  or 
two  years  or  five,  according  to  circumstances.  A 
couple  of  trusted  lieutenants  were  assigned  to  stay 
with  the  politely  condemned  exile,  "to  see  that  he 
wanted  for  nothing,"  and  he  never  failed  to  take  the 

[269] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

next  ship  for  foreign  shores.  Another  presidential 
method  was  to  summon  some  discontented  one,  who 
was  planning  an  insurrection,  and  make  him  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Cabinet.  Flattered  by  this  honor  the  new 
Minister  was  easily  tempted  to  come  out  with  exag- 
gerated expressions  of  confidence  in  Gen.  Guardia 
and  his  government.  Thereupon  the  President  would 
kick  him  into  the  street.  "There,"  he  would  say  to 
the  natives,  "you  see,  all  that  man  wanted  was 
money.  He  is  nothing  of  a  patriot." 

Guardia  always  smiled,  whether  he  was  sentencing 
a  man  to  exile  or  ejecting  him  from  his  shifting 
Cabinet;  he  regarded  the  natives  as  only  children. 
By  such  methods  as  these  he  made  himself  master  of 
the  country,  and  the  little  rebellions  which  sprang 
up  from  time  to  time  were  quickly  suppressed.  One 
of  the  foreigners  for  whom  he  developed  a  great 
liking  was  Dr.  W.  R.  Bross,  a  New  York  physician 
who  was  at  Port  Limon  with  a  party  of  engineers 
who  were  building  a  railroad  from  the  coast  into  the 
interior.  While  on  a  visit  to  Port  Limon  the  Presi- 
dent discovered  that  Dr.  Bross  had  much  more  skill 
than  any  of  the  physicians  at  the  capital.  He  wanted 
him  to  go  to  Europe  with  him  and,  when  this  proposi- 
tion was  rejected,  urged  him  to  accompany  him  to 
San  Jose,  the  capital,  and  become  his  private  physi- 

[270] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

cian,  at  a  salary  he  was  to  name  himself.  This  offer 
was  also  turned  down.  Had  Dr.  Bross  been  more 
worldly,  and  less  devoted  to  the  men  who  were  in  his 
care,  he  could  have  secured  concessions  worth  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  for  Gen.  Guardia  was  more  than  gen- 
erous to  his  friends. 

I  suspected  that  the  coffee  I  received  had  been 
stolen  from  planters  who  were  loyal  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  that  the  rebels  had  "  levied  "  on  it  as  a  war 
tax,  but  as  they  charged  me  three  cents  less  a  pound 
than  the  market  price,  while  I  charged  them  four  or 
five  times  as  much  for  the  arms  and  ammunition  as 
they  cost  me,  I  had  no  compunctions  of  conscience 
about  taking  it.  It  is  a  waste  of  good  time  and  pre- 
cious protoplasm  to  sympathize  with  Central  or  South 
Americans  who  are  pillaged  by  rebels,  for  in  the 
next  uprising  the  victims  of  the  previous  one  will,  in 
their  turn,  be  the  plunderers.  Thanks  to  the  med- 
dling of  American  warships,  things  have  quieted  down 
a  great  deal  within  recent  years,  but  in  the  good  old 
days,  of  which  I  am  writing,  revolutions  were  as 
much  a  part  of  the  daily  life  of  the  people  in  those 
countries  as  their  morning  meal,  and  more  so  than 
their  morning  bath.  In  fact,  the  most  popular  morn- 
ing salutation  was,  "  Who  are  we  revoluting  for  [or 
against]  to-day?"  Few  went  further  and  asked  why 

[271] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

they  were  in  revolt,  for  that  was  a  minor  consid- 
eration and  there  were  not  many  who  knew. 
At  least  nine-tenths  of  the  steady  routine  of 
revolutions  were  due  to  nothing  more  than  per- 
sonal ambition,  which  has  been  the  curse  of  Latin 
America.  Some  man  of  influence  or  a  disgruntled 
general  who  had  helped  to  elevate  some  other  gen- 
eral to  the  presidency,  and  then  had  not  been  shown 
the  consideration  to  which  he  thought  himself  enti- 
tled, would  raise  the  standard  of  rebellion.  Under  a 
plethora  of  promises  as  to  what  he  would  do  when 
he  became  president,  he  would  attract  other  dissatis- 
fied ones  to  his  cause,  and  it  usually  was  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time  until  he  overturned  the  unstable  gov- 
ernment. Then  he  would,  in  turn,  be  unable  or 
unwilling  to  make  good  on  all  of  his  promises,  real 
or  implied,  and  those  whom  he  disappointed  would 
proceed  to  throw  him  out.  Every  man  of  importance 
had  a  following  of  ignorant  natives  who,  either 
because  they  had  grown  up  in  his  section  of  the 
country  and  had  been  taught  to  show  him  homage, 
or  because  they  expected  to  lead  lazy  lives  when  he 
became  all-powerful,  would  follow  him  blindly.  A 
revolution  which  involved  any  question  of  good  gov- 
ernment was  almost  unheard  of.  It  is  nothing  but 
the  inordinate  and,  among  the  upper  classes,  almost 

[272] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

unanimous  thirst  for  power  that  has  retarded  the 
development  of  these  rich  countries  for  generations. 
Blessed  by  nature  beyond  the  understanding  of  those 
who  have  not  spent  years  in  them,  they  have  been 
cursed  by  man.  When  they  have  become  civilized 
and  their  development  once  sets  in,  it  will  eclipse  any- 
thing America  has  ever  seen. 

But  these  observations  are  not  a  part  of  my  story. 
With  the  cargo  of  loyalist  coffee  we  headed  for  New 
Orleans.  We  made  bad  weather  of  it  all  of  the  way. 
The  faddish  ship  wouldn't  sail  or  heave  to  and  was 
as  cranky  as  an  old  man  in  his  dotage.  Some  days 
we  actually  went  backward,  and  it  was  a  long  time 
before  we  raised  South  Pass  light  and  were  picked 
up  by  a  tug.  The  moment  the  hawser  tightened  the 
old  ship  threw  herself  back  on  her  haunches  and 
refused  to  budge.  The  captain  of  the  towboat,  after 
struggling  strenuously  to  get  us  under  way,  dropped 
back  and  screamed  at  me,  "What  in  hell  is  the 
matter  with  that  damned  old  hooker  ?  " 

"You  don't  know  how  to  tow  and  she  knows  it," 
I  retorted. 

"One  would  think  you  had  all  the  anchors  in  the 
United  States  down,"  he  shouted. 

I  assured  him  that  we  didn't  have  even  one  down 
and  he  tried  it  again  and  finally  got  us  to  going. 

[273] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

We  were  off  quarantine  soon  after  sundown  and  dis- 
covered that  an  embargo  of  forty  days  against  Cen- 
tral American  ports  had  been  raised  only  an  hour 
before.  The  balkiness  of  the  "Richards"  had  pre- 
vented us  from  having  to  ride  at  anchor  for  days  or 
weeks  and  be  subjected  to  casual  inspection  and  gossip 
which  might  have  caused  trouble.  While  the  delay 
had  been  of  service  to  us  in  that  respect  it  provoked 
some  anxiety  on  another  point.  I  had  an  idea  that 
the  Costa  Rican  Government  might  try  to  have  the 
ship  seized,  and  our  trip  had  been  such  a  long  one 
that  no  time  was  to  be  lost  in  selling  our  cargo  and 
getting  away.  I  took  samples  of  the  coffee  to  New 
Orleans  on  a  tug  and  placed  them  in  the  hands  of 
old  Peter  Stevens,  of  the  Produce  Exchange,  who 
sold  the  whole  cargo  in  an  hour. 

While  the  coffee  was  coming  out  stores  were  going 
in,  and  we  were  out  of  the  river  again  and  on  our  way 
to  Hayti  in  record  time.  Though  I  had  good  cause 
to  remember  Santo  Domingo  I  never  had  been  in  the 
"Black  Republic,"  and  as  I  had  heard  there  was  a 
probability  of  some  lively  times  there  I  determined 
to  visit  it  before  I  returned  to  New  York.  But  the 
crankiness  of  the  "Richards"  interfered  with  my 
plans.  When  we  were  about  one  hundred  miles  west 
of  Key  West  the  old  ship  committed  suicide  by  burn- 

[274] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

ing  herself  to  death.  The  fire  started  in  the  hold 
amidships,  but  we  could  not  even  imagine  what  might 
have  caused  it.  It  was  so  unexpected  that  it  had  a 
good  start  before  we  discovered  it.  We  fought  it, 
of  course,  but  we  might  as  well  have  tried  to  quench 
a  volcano  in  eruption.  The  strange  craft  had  made 
up  her  mind  to  go  under,  and  there  was  nothing  for 
us  to  do  but  take  to  the  whaleboat,  which  was  large 
enough  for  all  of  us,  as  I  had  only  a  small  crew.  After 
we  had  shoved  off  we  returned  at  considerable  risk 
to  rescue  a  big  black  cat  which  was  on  the  ship  when 
I  bought  her.  We  had  christened  him  "John  Croix," 
and  every  man  on  board  undertook  to  teach  him  all 
he  knew  about  navigation,  with  the  result  that  the 
animal  had  become  so  highly  educated  that  he  could  do 
everything  about  the  ship  but  use  the  sextant. 

Our  humanity  was  well  rewarded,  for  John  saved 
our  lives,  or  at  least  saved  us  from  a  lot  of  suffering. 
A  stiff  norther  came  up  before  we  sighted  land  and 
for  several  days  we  were  tossed  about  without  any 
clear  idea  as  to  the  direction  in  which  we  were  being 
blown,  for  not  once  did  we  get  a  glimpse  of  sun  or 
moon  by  which  to  take  a  reckoning.  Eventually  we 
drifted  among  the  islands  to  the  westward  of  Key 
West,  and  we  headed  for  the  largest  one  in  sight.  In 
the  heavy  sea  that  was  running  we  made  a  bad  mess 

[275] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

of  the  landing.  Our  boat  was  overturned  and  stove 
in,  the  bung  came  out  of  the  water  cask,  and  all  of 
our  supplies  and  most  of  our  instruments  were  lost. 
We  got  ashore  all  right,  and  John  Croix  with  us,  but 
we  had  neither  food  nor  water,  and  when  a  search 
of  the  little  island  failed  to  reveal  so  much  as  a 
sign  of  a  spring  of  fresh  water,  we  began  to  give 
some  thought  to  what  our  chances  would  be  in  the 
hereafter.  We  bivouacked  gloomily  that  night  on 
the  beach.  Early  in  the  morning  the  cat  awakened 
me  by  rubbing  against  my  face.  At  first  I  thought 
he  was  only  depressed,  like  the  rest  of  us,  and  wanted 
company,  but  he  pestered  around  until  I  got  up  and 
followed  him.  Calling  to  me  over  his  shoulder  he 
led  the  way  to  a  clump  of  mangrove  trees,  whose 
roots  overhung  the  bank  three  feet  above  high  tide. 
John  trotted  under  the  mass  of  roots  and  began  to 
purr  loudly.  I  started  to  follow  him  and  then  backed 
out,  but  the  cat  yowled  so  loudly  that  I  got  down 
on  all  fours  again  and  followed  him.  I  crawled  along 
for  ten  or  twelve  feet  until  I  found  John  standing 
over  a  rivulet  of  fresh  water  about  as  big  as  my  finger. 
I  drank  my  fill  from  it  and  then  awakened  the  others 
and  told  them  of  John's  discovery.  They  hailed  him 
as  our  saviour,  and  when  he  came  trotting  into  camp 
a  couple  of  hours  later  with  an  oyster  in  his  mouth 

[276] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

they  were  ready  to  beatify  him.  Until  John  had 
shown  us  the  way  to  food,  as  he  had  led  us  to  water, 
we  had  not  thought  of  looking  for  oysters,  of  which 
there  were  millions  around  the  roots  of  the  mangrove 
trees.  Strengthened  and  encouraged  we  patched  up 
our  boat  and,  when  the  storm  had  blown  itself  out, 
put  to  sea  again  and  encountered  a  little  schooner 
from  St.  John's,  Florida,  which  took  us  to  Key  West, 
where  we  soon  got  a  ship  for  New  York.  On  the 
way  north  we  put  in  at  Charleston,  where  I  had 
enjoyed  much  excitement  as  a  blockade  runner,  and 
there  I  presented  John  Croix  to  a  Methodist  minis- 
ter who  promised  to  give  him  a  good  home. 

I  was  still  anxious  to  visit  Hayti,  that  land  of 
mystery  and  murder,  and,  in  the  guise  of  an  English 
planter,  I  went  there  on  a  West  Indian  steamer. 
Hayti  has  had  more  internal  troubles  and  more 
presidents  than  any  other  of  the  revolutionary  repub- 
lics and  her  domestic  disorders  will  continue  until 
they  are  stopped  by  some  powerful  outside  influences, 
for  the  blacks  and  mulattoes  are  eternal  enemies.  In 
the  first  three  years  following  the  separation  from 
Santo  Domingo  there  were  four  presidents.  In  1849 
Soulouque,  a  negro,  proclaimed  himself  Emperor,  as 
Faustian  I.  He  ruled  with  despotic  power,  renewed 
the  war  on  Santo  Domingo,  and  played  hob  gener- 

[277] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ally  with  the  nation's  finances  and  affairs.  In  1858 
General  Geffrard,  a  mulatto  whom  Soulouque  had 
condemned  to  death,  revolted  and  proclaimed  himself 
President.  He  restored  the  constitution  and  held  on 
until  1867,  when  he  was  overthrown  by  General  Sal- 
nave,  who  lasted  three  years  before  he  was  deposed 
and  shot.  He  had  four  successors  in  twice  as  many 
years,  the  last  one  being  General  Salomon,  who  was 
at  the  head  of  affairs  when  I  arrived  on  the  scene. 
It  did  not  take  me  long  to  make  up  my  mind  that 
Hayti  was  the  warmest  hotbed  of  intrigue  I  had  ever 
run  across  and  I  felt  that  I  was  among  friends  and 
in  a  thoroughly  congenial  atmosphere.  The  very  air 
seemed  to  breed  revolutions;  perhaps  because  it  was 
peopled  with  the  spirits  of  the  old  buccaneers  who 
had  their  headquarters  at  the  western  end  of  the 
island  in  the  entrancing  early  days.  There  were 
many  plotters  for  the  presidency,  but  there  were  two 
great  rival  camps,  one  headed  by  General  F.  D.  Legi- 
time  and  the  other  by  General  Florville  Hippolyte. 
Legitime  was  planning  to  overturn  the  government 
at  once,  but  it  was  the  scheme  of  Hippolyte,  who  was 
more  cunning  and  willing  to  wait,  to  continue  Salo- 
mon in  power  until  the  election  of  1886,  when  he 
expected  to  secure  his  own  election  as  Constitutional 
President.  All  of  the  plots  and  counter-plots  were 

[278] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

laid  in  secret,  of  course,  yet  all  men  of  influence 
knew  in  a  general  way  what  the  others  were  doing 
and  where  they  stood,  with  due  allowance  for  the 
treachery  always  found  in  Latin  countries,  which 
creates  a  delightful  element  of  uncertainty. 

Hippolyte  was  one  of  the  ugliest  negroes  I  have 
ever  known  —  and  my  estimate  of  him  as  here  set 
down  is  in  no  way  influenced  by  the  fact  that  some 
years  later  he  arranged  to  have  me  carefully  mur- 
dered. With  his  bloodshot  eyes  and  white  whiskers, 
which  latter  reminded  one  of  dirty  lace  curtains, 
his  cruel  face  was  suggestive  of  some  wild  animal. 
He  was  abrupt  and  domineering  in  his  manner  and 
there  was  not  a  forgiving  drop  of  blood  in  his  veins. 
If  the  hippopotamus  is  as  savage  a  brute  as  has  been 
pictured,  Hippolyte  should  have  taken  all  of  his  name 
from  that  animal.  He  could  laugh,  but  only  like  a 
hyena,  and  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  smile.  Brutal 
and  bloodthirsty,  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  forceful 
old  villain  and  possessed  of  much  native  shrewd- 
ness. Like  all  of  the  blacks  he  was  a  devout  voodoo 
worshipper,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  papa/ois  —  the 
priesthood  of  the  cannibalistic  creed  —  he  played  on 
the  superstitions  of  the  ignorant  negroes.  We  be- 
came well  acquainted  during  the  year  or  more  that 
I  loafed  around  Port  au  Prince,  revelling  in  the  oddly 

[279] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

warlike  surroundings  and  watching  the  budding 
plots,  and  at  times  I  found  him  interesting. 

Legitime  was  the  opposite  of  Hippolyte  in  all  of 
his  qualities.  He  was  a  bright,  intelligent,  progres- 
sive mulatto ;  well  educated  for  a  Haytien  and  with  a 
good  address  and  the  manners  of  a  gentleman. 
Intense  loyalty  was  one  of  his  strongest  character- 
istics and  he  had  visions  of  his  country's  immediate 
future  which  have  not  yet,  after  twenty-five  years, 
been  in  any  degree  realized.  No  one  questioned  his 
bravery,  and  while  he  to  some  extent  lacked  firmness 
and  strength  of  character,  I  believed  he  would  develop 
these  vital  traits  with  age,  for  he  was  then  a  com- 
paratively young  man.  He  had  the  elements  of  a 
first-class  president,  and  had  he  ever  become  firmly 
established  in  that  office  Hayti  would  to-day  be  a 
very  different  country  and  a  much  more  agreeable 
neighbor. 

In  the  end  I  allied  myself  with  Legitime,  and  in 
so  doing  incurred  the  bitter  enmity  of  Hippolyte,  who 
had  told  me  something  of  his  plans  and  had  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  suggest,  without  going  into  details, 
that  I  cooperate  with  him  when  the  time  for  action 
arrived.  The  result  was  that  when  I  went  over  to  his 
hated  rival  he  took  it  as  a  deadly  insult,  and  the 
chances  are  that  we  would  have  taken  a  few  shots 

[280] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

at  each  other  if  my  stay  in  the  country  had  not  been 
cut  short.  I  was  negotiating  with  Legitime  to  sup- 
ply him  with  arms  and  take  a  commission  in  his 
army,  and  we  were  getting  along  famously  toward 
a  real  revolution  when  suddenly,  in  the  latter  part  of 
1884,  President  Salomon  ordered  that  he  be  expelled 
from  the  country  for  plotting  against  him.  If  Legi- 
time had  been  less  popular  he  would  have  been 
unceremoniously  shot,  but  Salomon's  influence  was 
already  beginning  to  wane  and  he  did  not  care  to 
add  largely  to  his  enemies,  so  he  contented  himself 
with  an  order  of  expulsion.  At  the  same  time, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Hippolyte,  the  sugges- 
tion was  conveyed  to  me  that  the  climate  of  Hayti 
was  not  suited  to  my  health.  Legitime  boarded  a 
ship  for  Jamaica,  which  was  conveniently  in  the  har- 
bor when  his  expulsion  was  announced,  and  I  accom- 
panied him.  He  told  me  the  time  was  not  ripe  for 
his  revolt  and  that  he  proposed  to  wait  until  the  con- 
ditions were  more  favorable  for  him.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  he  waited  four  years,  and  while  he  succeeded  in 
overthrowing  Salomon  in  the  end,  his  rule  was  short- 
lived. I  remained  with  him  in  Kingston  for  some 
time  and  then,  as  I  saw  no  prospect  of  quick  action, 
returned  to  Australia,  by  way  of  London,  where  I 
resumed  my  British  name  of  George  MacFarlane. 

[281] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

I  reached  Melbourne  in  1885,  after  an  absence  of 
about  four  years,  and  went  to  Menzies'  Hotel,  which 
was  not  the  one  I  had  stopped  at  before,  when  I  was 
James  Stuart  Henderson.  Of  my  three  companions 
who  had  been  sent  to  prison  for  stealing  the  "Fer- 
ret," Leigh,  the  sailing  master,  had  recently  completed 
his  term,  while  Nourse,  who  impersonated  me,  and 
Joe  Wilson,  had  still  nearly  two  years  to  serve.  I 
located  Leigh  and  put  him  to  work  for  Nevins,  a  sail 
maker,  and  sent  word  to  the  others  that  I  was  there 
and  would  wait  around  until  they  came  out.  Then, 
fearing  that  I  might  be  recognized  by  some  of  the 
officers  who  had  suspected,  during  the  trial,  that 
Nourse  was  playing  a  part,  with  the  probable  result 
that  I  would  be  forced  to  again  change  places  with 
him,  which  I  had  no  wish  to  do,  I  went  on  to  Sydney. 
There  I  met  Montfort  &  Co.,  merchants  and  specula- 
tors, through  whom  I  became  financially  interested 
in  a  group  of  silver  properties  known  as  the  Sunny 
Corner  Mines,  in  the  Broken  Hills  district  in  New 
South  Wales.  We  also  laid  claim  to  Mount  Morgan, 
deceptively  described  as  "A  Mountain  of  Gold," 
which  was  partly  in  Queensland.  We  plunged  heav- 
ily on  a  question  of  title,  which  was  in  litigation,  and 
stood,  as  we  thought,  to  make  many  millions.  When 
the  decision  of  the  highest  court  was  finally  an- 

[282] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

nounced  the  bottom  fell  out  of  our  scheme,  for  we 
were  knocked  out  at  every  point,  and  there  was  a 
void  in  my  bank  account  which  represented  consid- 
erably more  than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

From  the  time  of  my  first  visit  to  Australia  the 
laboring  men  had  been  conducting  an  anti- Chinese 
agitation,  to  perpetuate  and  strengthen  their  power 
over  capital.  There  were  not  then,  nor  are  there  now, 
nearly  enough  workers  in  the  country  to  supply  the 
demand.  The  native  blacks  are  without  question  the 
laziest  people  under  the  sun.  The  notoriously  indo- 
lent West  Indian  negro  is  an  enterprising  and  ambi- 
tious citizen  by  comparison  with  them,  for  there  is 
no  power  on  earth  by  which  they  can  be  made  to 
work.  The  Chinese,  always  on  the  lookout  for  a 
labor  market,  soon  heard  of  the  rich  field  and  in- 
vaded it  in  droves,  whereupon  the  white  workmen  of 
all  grades  set  up  a  great  hullabaloo;  it  was  there  I 
first  heard  the  cry  of  the  "  Yellow  Peril."  The  em- 
ployers, fearful  of  antagonizing  their  employees, 
either  joined  with  them  or  let  them  have  their  own 
way.  They  urged  England  to  put  a  stop  to  the  im- 
portation of  Chinese  and  when  the  mother  country, 
which  was  extending  its  "sphere  of  influence" 
(meaning  thereby  the  acquisition  of  territory)  further 
and  further  into  the  Celestial  Empire,  declined  to  act, 

[283] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

Victoria  and  New  South  Wales  took  the  matter  into 
their  own  hands  and  passed  a  Chinese  exclusion  law. 
It  provided  that  any  ship  captain  who  brought  Chi- 
nese into  these  Provinces  should  be  compelled  to 
return  them,  forfeit  his  certificate,  and  pay  a  fine  of 
not  more  than  three  hundred  pounds  for  each 
"  Chinkie,"  and  he  might  also  be  sent  to  jail.  Chinese 
were  further  prohibited  from  entering  the  restricted 
districts  by  the  overland  route,  and  while  it  was  im- 
possible to  entirely  shut  them  out,  it  was  thought 
the  new  law  would  greatly  reduce  the  number  that 
entered  the  country. 

It  occurred  to  me  that  I  might  recoup  my  mining 
losses  by  importing  Chinamen,  without  running  any 
considerable  risk  of  arrest,  and  I  went  into  the  busi- 
ness. It  promised  to  be  profitable,  for  the  natural 
effect  of  the  exclusion  law  was  to  intensify  the  desire 
of  the  "  Chinkies "  to  get  into  the  two  Provinces, 
where  the  demand  for  them  was  the  greater  on 
account  of  their  restricted  number.  I  bought  the  old 
mission  ship  "Southern  Cross,"  which  took  Bishop 
Selwyn  to  Australia,  a  fore  and  aft  schooner  of  about 
two  hundred  tons,  and  sent  her  across  the  bay  to 
Balmain  to  be  overhauled  and  put  in  shape  for  her 
new  purpose.  I  had  her  fitted  up  as  a  private  yacht, 
but  all  of  her  fittings  below  decks  were  so  arranged 

[284] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

that  they  could  be  knocked  down  and  stored  away, 
leaving  the  hold  open.  On  the  first  trip  to  China  I 
had  tiers  and  rows  of  berths  built  on  the  same  quickly 
removable  principle,  and  with  this  arrangement  there 
was  enough  space  to  enable  us  to  carry  more  than 
two  hundred  passengers  without  discomfort. 

I  brought  Leigh  up  from  Melbourne  and  made  him 
sailing  master  and  again  began  preying  on  the 
Chinkies,  but  in  a  more  friendly  way  than  when  I 
was  plundering  their  pirate  junks  in  the  China  Sea. 
The  Chinamen  furnished  their  own  food,  and  Quong 
Tart,  a  rich  Chinese  merchant  of  Sydney,  paid  me 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  every  one  I  landed  in 
Victoria  or  New  South  Wales.  He  arranged  for  their 
shipment,  so,  when  I  arrived  at  Amoy  or  Shanghai, 
where  they  all  came  from,  I  had  only  to  wait  for  the 
requisite  number  to  come  on  board,  and  he  also  took 
charge  of  them  when  they  were  put  ashore.  In  a 
spirit  of  dare-deviltry  I  landed  the  first  shipload  less 
than  five  miles  north  of  Newcastle,  the  second  largest 
city  in  New  South  Wales.  The  subsequent  cargoes 
I  unloaded  on  the  beach  north  of  Newcastle  or  south 
of  Sydney,  without  ever  feeling  that  I  was  in  any 
serious  danger  of  being  discovered.  Each  time  I  sent 
word  to  Quong  Tart  where  the  next  load  would  be 
put  ashore  and  about  the  time  I  was  expected  he  sent 

[285] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

spies  to  the  spot  to  see  if  any  officers  were  hanging 
around  and  signal  to  me  if  there  was  danger  of  run- 
ning into  a  trap.  No  two  cargoes  were  ever  landed  at 
the  same  place  and  only  Quong  Tart  knew  where  to 
look  for  me  on  the  next  trip.  When  Nourse  and 
Wilson  were  released  from  prison  the  former  scurried 
across  Bass  Strait  to  his  old  Tasmanian  home  with 
the  money  I  had  paid  him  for  so  successfully  im- 
personating me.  He  considered  that  he  had  been 
well  compensated  for  his  compulsory  retirement  from 
active  life  and  expected  to  invest  his  capital  in  some 
small  business,  to  which  affluent  position,  under  ordi- 
nary conditions,  he  never  could  have  aspired  with  any 
degree  of  confidence.  Wilson's  disposition  was  to 
go  back  to  the  sea  with  me,  so  I  bought  the  "  Nettie 
H,"  a  handy  little  steamer,  and  put  her  into  the  Chi- 
nese smuggling  trade.  I  took  command  of  the 
steamer,  with  Leigh  as  sailing  master,  and  put  Wil- 
son in  charge  of  the  schooner,  as  I  could  trust  him 
with  the  least  anxiety.  He  had  none  of  Leigh's  love 
for  liquor  and  the  result  of  his  carelessness  with  the 
"  Ferret "  had  made  him  as  careful  as  a  Scot.  While 
the  "  Nettie  H  "  was  being  fitted  out,  the  authorities 
warned  me  that  they  knew  what  I  was  up  to  and  it 
would  go  hard  with  me  if  they  secured  proof  of  their 

[286] 


A  LAND  OF  MYSTERY  AND  MURDER 

suspicions,  but,  knowing  they  were  only  shooting  in 
the  air,  I  laughed  at  them. 

If  this  business  of  carrying  Chinese  under  cover 
had  been  as  productive  of  adventure  as  it  was  of 
profits,  I  would  have  stuck  to  it  indefinitely,  but  it 
was  so  absolutely  devoid  of  excitement  that  it  palled 
on  me.  After  we  had  made  eight  or  nine  trips,  which 
more  than  repaid  my  financial  losses  ashore,  I  with- 
drew from  the  trade,  with  the  idea  of  returning  to  the 
seductive  West  Indies,  where  I  imagined  there  were 
higher-class  operations  to  be  conducted,  and  more 
thrilling  times  to  be  found.  While  I  was  disposing  of 
my  ships  and  finally  closing  up  my  Australian  affairs, 
I  was  in  Sydney  for  several  weeks  and  stopped  at  the 
Imperial  Hotel,  where  I  met  and  became  well  ac- 
quainted with  Guy  Boothby,  the  English  novelist. 
Though  he  dreamed  away  his  inborn  love  of  adven- 
ture, while  I  industriously  practised  mine  and  made 
it  my  life,  he  was  a  good  deal  of  a  kindred  spirit,  and 
in  the  course  of  our  numerous  long  talks  I  told  him 
enough  about  my  experience  with  the  Beautiful 
White  Devil,  without  going  into  any  of  the  detailed 
and  intimate  facts  which  have  been  told  in  these 
confessions,  so  that  he  subsequently  wove  a  romance 
about  her,  using  her  sobriquet  as  a  title  for  the  story. 

Accompanied  by  Leigh  and  Wilson,  who  were 
[287] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

going  only  as  far  as  England,  I  boarded  a  steamship 
for  London,  on  my  way  back  to  New  York.  It  would 
have  been  easier  and  quicker  for  me  to  have  returned 
by  way  of  San  Francisco,  but  I  involuntarily  selected 
the  roundabout  way,  to  soon  find  that  it  led  me 
into  a  unique  and  altogether  unexpected  experience. 


[288] 


CHAPTER   XIII 

ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

T  1C  THEN  I  finally  forsook  Australia,  near  the  close 
*  *  of  1889,  accompanied  by  Leigh  and  Wilson, 
who  had  paid  a  penitentiary  penalty  for  my  revengeful 
ambition  and  their  own  carelessness,  I  was  in  no  par- 
ticular hurry  to  get  anywhere,  but  had  no  thought  of 
stopping  off  at  any  point  short  of  London  until  we 
reached  Alexandria.  Immediately  on  our  arrival 
there  I  was  suddenly  seized  with  a  freak  of  fancy,  as 
we  nonchalantly  speak  of  the  immutable  decrees  of 
Fate  when  we  wish  to  show  an  independence  of  action 
we  do  not  feel,  to  visit  Cairo,  and  without  waste  of 
time  and  energy  in  mental  argument  I  sent  my  dun- 
nage ashore  by  one  of  the  thousand  or  more  small 
boats  which  viciously  assaulted  the  ship  from  all 
sides.  My  two  companions,  after  their  trying  times 
in  Melbourne,  were  anxious  to  get  back  among  their 
own  people,  so  they  went  on  to  London,  which  deci- 
sion was  reached  without  the  slightest  effort  to 
conceal  their  comments  on  my  erratic  disposition, 
while  I  proceeded  to  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Kings 
of  Egypt  —  those  glorious  old  marauding  monarchs 

[289] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

who  made  despotism  a  fine  art  and  graft  a  religion. 
There  I  was  projected  into  a  most  alluringly  adven- 
turous undertaking.  Though  failing  utterly  of  its 
high  purpose,  it  was  by  no  means  devoid  of  compen- 
sations, for  it  initiated  me  far  enough  into  the 
mysteries  of  departed  days  so  that  I  considered  my- 
self at  least  an  entered  apprentice,  and,  furthermore, 
it  carried  me  into  close  relationship  with  an  exquis- 
itely beautiful  woman,  which,  next  to  plotting  against 
peace  and  fighting  out  the  plan,  is  always  the  thing 
most  to  be  desired.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  the  rule 
in  the  Orient,  where  man  is  less  virile  and  more 
devious  and  discreet  than  in  the  newer  world,  that 
a  handsome  woman  is  a  part  of  every  properly  pro- 
moted plot,  and  this  one  was  no  exception. 

Under  my  British  name  of  George  MacFarlane  I 
stopped  at  Shepheard's  Hotel,  then  the  home  of  all 
pilgrims,  and  gave  myself  up  to  the  enjoyment  of 
new  scenes  while  I  waited,  in  no  sense  impatiently, 
for  the  development  of  the  situation  through  whose 
coming  I  had  been  summoned.  It  was  at  the  height 
of  the  tourist  season,  following  the  Christmas  holi- 
days, and  there  was  an  abundance  of  company,  made 
up  of  cultured  Europeans  and  a  few  Americans  of 
gentle  birth,  for  that  was  before  Cairo  was  over-run 
with  the  over-rich.  The  time  was  delightfully  whiled 

[290] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

away  for  a  month  before  anything  happened  to  indi- 
cate the  reason  for  my  being  there,  but  within  less 
than  half  of  that  time  I  had  renewed  acquaintance 
with  the  man  who  was  really  the  key  to  the  situation, 
though  I  did  not  suspect  it  at  the  time.  He  and  I 
had  been  strangely  thrown  together  some  years  before, 
under  conditions  which  provoked  rather  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  each  other,  and  when  we  met  on  the 
street  one  day  the  recognition  was  instant  and 
mutual.  He  did  not  inquire  into  my  business  but 
simply  asked  what  name  I  was  travelling  under,  in 
order  that  he  might  not  embarrass  me.  He  stood  in 
close  and  confidential  relation  to  Tewfik  Pasha,  the 
Khedive,  and  on  that  account  it  is  best  that  there 
should  be  no  hint,  even  now,  as  to  his  name  or 
nationality. 

I  wished  to  see  the  titular  ruler  of  Egypt  at  close 
range,  and  through  my  old  companion-in-arms  I 
secured  an  invitation  to  the  Khedive's  annual  ball 
at  the  Abdin  Palace.  This  function,  which  naturally 
was  the  event  of  the  year,  was  rendered  impressive 
by  all  the  artistry  of  the  East,  and  it  was  a  most 
brilliant  spectacle.  At  the  ends  of  every  step  in  the 
long  stairway  leading  up  to  the  palace  stood  immobile 
footmen,  who  suggested  past  glories  despite  their 
costume,  which  was  decidedly  English,  save  for  the 

[291] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ever-present  fez.  Inside,  there  was  an  endless  suc- 
cession of  long  mirrors  set  in  the  walls,  which  multi- 
plied the  jewels  of  the  women  and  the  gay  uniforms 
of  the  officers  and  diplomats  into  a  flashing  mass  of 
colors;  countless  palms  scattered  profusely  through 
the  large  rooms,  and  gorgeous  chandeliers  illuminated 
with  candles,  but  there  was  not  so  much  as  a  hint 
of  furniture.  Had  there  been  any  place  where  the 
guests  could  lounge  or  sit,  beyond  the  floor,  the 
chances  are  that  some  of  them  would  have  stayed 
there  until  the  next  day,  at  least,  in  the  absence  of 
physical  violence  as  an  aid  to  their  departure.  The 
only  ladies  present  were  Europeans  and  some  few 
favored  Americans,  but  from  wide  corridors  behind 
the  musharabiyeh,  or  fretwork  around  the  frieze 
of  the  walls,  the  Khedivah  and  her  women  attendants 
had  a  good  view  of  the  proceedings  without  danger 
of  being  seen.  They  were  equally  secure  from  any 
possibility  of  intrusion,  for  every  avenue  that  led  in 
their  direction  was  guarded  by  offensively  haughty 
eunuchs. 

I  was  purposely  close  to  the  end  of  the  long  line 
of  people  who  were  presented  to  the  Khedive,  for  I 
wanted  to  study  him.  He  was  about  five  and  a  half 
feet  tall,  with  straight  black  hair,  black  moustache, 
an  olive  complexion,  brown  eyes  that  were  more  than 

[292] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

alert,  and  a  rather  Roman  nose,  giving  a  Jewish  cast 
to  his  face,  which  always  wore  a  very  bored  ex- 
pression except  when  he  was  interested.  His  hand 
was  small  but  firm  —  such  a  hand  as  would  commit 
murder  if  the  owner  were  sure  it  would  not  be  found 
out.  There  was  nothing  of  the  brave  man  in  his 
looks  or  actions.  Polite  and  insinuating  by  nature, 
he  was  never  born  to  lead.  Rather,  he  suggested  the 
favorite  and  tool  of  the  Sultan,  who  would  take  some 
small  chance  of  losing  his  head  with  a  sufficiently 
large  reward  in  the  other  side  of  the  scale.  He  wore 
that  night,  and  always,  a  single-breasted  frock  coat, 
like  that  of  an  Episcopal  clergyman.  He  spoke 
English  correctly  but  with  an  accent,  and  aversion 
as  well;  French  he  loved  and  spoke  like  a  Parisian. 
I  had  been  given  advance  information  on  this  point, 
so  when  I  was  introduced,  following  a  string  of 
Englishmen  and  Americans,  I  addressed  him  in 
French.  Instantly  the  weary  look  vanished  and  his 
face  lighted  up  until  he  became  almost  handsome. 

"Ah,"  he  exclaimed,  as  he  gripped  my  hand  with 
more  force  than  I  had  previously  seen  him  display, 
"you  are  a  Frenchman.  I  am  delighted." 

I  made  some  polite  reply  and  he  went  on,  almost 
excitedly,  "I  love  the  French  language,  but  I  do  not 
like  the  English.  I  speak  it  only  because  I  have  to. 

[293] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

The  Khedivah  is  more  fortunate.  She  does  not  speak 
it  at  all,  and  she  never  will  learn  it." 

We  exchanged  commonplaces  for  a  moment  and 
I  passed  on,  wondering  to  what  extent  England  could 
trust  this  man,  who  hated  her  tongue  and  made  no 
secret  of  it. 

Cairo  has  been  described  so  often  and  in  so  many 
ways  by  people  who  had  nothing  better  to  write 
about  that  I  have  no  wish  to  add  to  the  literature  on 
that  subject,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  speaking,  in 
passing,  of  one  unusual  scene  which,  so  far  as  I  have 
read,  has  for  all  of  these  years  escaped  the  attention 
of  literary  loiterers.  With  my  mind  far  back  in  cen- 
turies that  are  forgotten,  in  lands  devoid  of  imperish- 
able monuments  like  those  around  me,  I  had  stayed 
on  the  summit  of  Cheops  so  long,  one  afternoon,  that 
my  dragoman  declared  I  would  have  trouble  in  reach- 
ing the  bottom  before  dark.  Half-way  down  I  paused 
for  a  glimpse  at  Cairo,  with  every  minaret  standing 
out  boldly  in  the  strong  light.  Then,  suddenly, 
almost  at  my  feet,  the  sinking  sun  created  the  shadow 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  it  began  to  move.  It  ad- 
vanced almost  imperceptibly,  at  first,  but  gathered 
headway  quickly  and  in  a  moment  it  was  rushing 
across  the  twelve-mile  plain  toward  the  city  with  the 
speed  of  an  express  train,  as  it  seemed  to  me;  I  am 

[294] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

sure  no  race  horse  could  have  kept  pace  with  it.  When 
the  shadow  reached  the  Mokattam  Hills  it  paused 
for  an  instant  and  then  began,  slowly  and  more  slowly 
and  with  apparent  difficulty,  to  climb  the  high  side  of 
the  Citadel  Mosque.  When  it  was  half-way  up  the 
wall  the  sun  dropped  out  of  sight  like  a  shot  and  we 
were  buried  in  Egyptian  darkness,  which,  be  it  said, 
is  no  simple  figure  of  speech.  In  a  few  minutes,  how- 
ever, we  were  able  to  complete  our  descent  of  the 
gigantic  steps  by  the  light  of  the  brilliant  afterglow, 
which  spread  its  soft  radiance  over  the  land. 

As  I  was  enjoying  my  after-dinner  cigar  one  even- 
ing in  a  quiet  corner  of  the  garden  in  front  of  the 
hotel,  I  was  approached  by  three  women  pedlers, 
apparently  of  the  fellah  class.  They  wore  the 
common  blue  kimono-like  garment,  held  together 
seemingly  by  luck,  and  their  small  black  veils  were 
thrown  over  their  heads,  leaving  their  faces  bare  and 
thus  placing  them  outside  the  pale  of  Egyptian  re- 
spectability. I  was  about  to  walk  away  to  avoid 
their  pestering,  when  my  eyes  met  those  of  the  one 
who  was  in  the  lead,  and  instantly  I  was  attracted  in 
place  of  being  repelled.  Great,  brilliant  eyes  they 
were ;  not  fickle  and  flirtatious,  like  those  of  the  thinly 
veiled  beauties  of  the  harem  who  were  seen  in  their 
coupes  on  the  Shoobra  Road  every  afternoon,  nor 

[295] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

sullen  or  sensuous,  like  those  of  the  class  to  which  her 
garb  gave  her  claim;  but  steady  and  sincere,  wide- 
open  and  frank,  and  in  them  shone  a  light  that  con- 
verted into  specks  the  lanterns  with  which  the 
grounds  were  illuminated.  Such  eyes  do  not  come  in 
one  generation,  not  even  by  chance,  nor  are  they 
born  of  the  soil.  Her  face  was  of  the  pure  Egyptian 
type,  gentle  in  its  contour  and  refined  in  every  line, 
with  perfectly  arched  eyebrows  and  a  mass  of  hair 
as  black  as  her  eyes,  and  her  easy  carriage  empha- 
sized the  grace  of  her  tall,  lithe  figure,  the  curves  of 
which  not  even  her  coarse  robe  could  entirely  con- 
ceal. 

Her  sparkling  eyes,  turned  full  on  me  and  ignoring 
all  else,  told  me  as  plainly  as  words  could  have  done 
that  she  had  some  message  for  me,  and,  suspecting 
that  the  moment  for  which  I  had  been  waiting  for 
weeks  had  arrived,  I  walked  slowly  toward  her,  as 
though  in  a  mood  to  barter.  As  we  met,  seemingly 
somewhat  disconcerted  by  my  steady  gaze  of  pro- 
found and  unconcealed  admiration,  she  drew  her 
uncouth  veil  across  her  face  and  held  out  her  hands, 
like  one  trained  to  tourist  trade,  that  I  might  examine 
her  wonderful  rings.  Those  hands  could  never  have 
known  work,  they  were  so  soft  and  small,  and  arms 
more  perfectly  rounded  were  never  modelled  in  marble 

[296] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

by  a  master.  Plainly  this  woman  was  not  of  the 
servant  class,  to  which  her  companions  as  clearly 
belonged.  One  of  her  hands  was  half-closed  and  as 
she  laid  it  in  mine  it  opened  and  a  small  piece  of 
folded  paper  fell  into  my  palm.  Long  accustomed  to 
ways  out  of  the  ordinary,  I  gave  no  sign,  beyond  an 
involuntary  start  which  she  felt  but  no  one  else 
noticed,  and  proceeded  with  outward  calmness,  and 
assuredly  with  much  deliberation,  to  select  a  ring, 
which  I  purchased  as  a  souvenir  of  our  first  meeting. 
It  was  set  with  an  uncut  ruby  in  a  band  of  gold  so 
fine  that  it  was  removed  from  her  tiny  finger,  which 
it  encircled  nearly  twice,  simply  by  pressing  the  ends 
outward.  Not  a  word  passed  between  us  except  as 
to  the  price  of  the  ring,  over  which  there  was  no 
haggling.  The  women  who  were  with  her  made  a 
pretence  of  showing  me  their  wares,  but  it  was  only 
a  show  for  the  benefit  of  any  inquisitive  persons  who 
might  be  watching,  and  without  urging  me  to  buy 
they  passed  on.  I  strolled  after  them  and  was  inter- 
ested in  observing  that  as  they  approached  other 
guests  the  woman  who  had  slipped  me  the  note  re- 
mained in  the  background,  with  her  face  veiled, 
leaving  commerce  to  her  companions.  They  at- 
tempted to  make  only  a  few  sales  and  then  disap- 
peared. 

[297] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

Curious  to  a  degree  that  surprised  me,  as  to  the 
contents  of  the  communication  which  had  come  to 
me  so  strangely,  but  fearful  of  being  watched,  by  I 
knew  not  whom,  it  was  some  time  before  I  went  to 
my  room  to  read  the  note  by  the  light  of  a  tallow 
candle.  The  mysterious  missive  read:  "You  are 
Captain  Boynton.  Are  you  willing  to  undertake  a 
difficult  and  perhaps  dangerous  mission  ?  Answer 
to-morrow  night  through  the  channel  by  which  you 
receive  this." 

Here  was  a  romantic  promise  of  something  new 
and  real  in  the  way  of  excitement,  for  I  could  imagine 
nothing  stereotyped  growing  out  of  such  an  unusual 
beginning,  and  I  rejoiced.  The  answer  to  the  in- 
spiring invitation,  which  I  promptly  burned  from 
discretion  while  sentiment  told  me  to  keep  it,  required 
no  thought,  and  as  I  am  not  much  given  to  the  exer- 
tion of  energy  in  seeking  solutions  for  difficult 
problems  that  will  soon  supply  their  own  answers,  I 
did  not  greatly  concern  myself  as  to  the  purpose  of 
the  plot  in  which  I  was  sought  as  a  partner.  Inas- 
much as  the  only  man  in  Cairo  who  knew  me  as 
Captain  Boynton,  and  who  was  acquainted  with  my 
favorite  occupation,  was  a  confidant  of  the  Khedive, 
it  naturally  occurred  to  me  that  the  oily  Tewfik 
Pasha  was  mixed  up  in  it  in  some  way,  and  I  sus- 

[298] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

pected  that  it  involved  another  secret  movement 
against  British  rule  in  Egypt.  The  latter  suspicion 
was  soon  verified  and  there  never  has  been  any  doubt 
in  my  own  mind  that  I  was  equally  correct  in  the 
conjecture  as  to  the  participation,  or  at  least  the 
silent  approval,  of  Tewfik,  but  this  could  not  be 
proved. 

Knowing  the  mystery-loving  nature  of  the  Egyp- 
tians and  feeling  sure  that  if  left  wholly  to  their  own 
ways  they  would  entertain  themselves  with  a  long 
correspondence  which  could  do  no  good  and  might 
arouse  suspicion,  I  determined  to  bring  matters  to 
a  head  as  quickly  as  possible.  It  was  evident  that 
those  who  sought  my  services  knew  much  about  me 
and  it  was  quite  as  important  to  me  that  I  should 
know  them.  The  next  evening,  before  going  down  to 
dinner,  I  wrote  my  answer.  "  Yes,"  I  replied  to  the 
encouraging  query,  "provided  it  is  something  a  gen- 
tleman can  do,  and  I  am  well  paid  for  it.  But  I  will 
conduct  no  negotiations  in  this  way.  I  must  see  the 
people  I  am  doing  business  with." 

After  dinner  I  retired  to  the  same  out-of-the-way 
corner  of  the  garden  in  which  I  had  been  found  the 
night  before,  on  the  side  farthest  away  from  the  hotel 
and  the  music,  to  await  developments.  It  probably 
was  not  long,  but  it  seemed  hours,  before  the  same 

[299] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

three  women  came  up  the  short  flight  of  steps  run- 
ning down  to  the  street.  The  one  who  was  doing 
duty  as  a  letter  carrier,  and  who  bore  the  imaginative 
name  of  lalla,  was  the  last  to  appear.  On  reaching 
the  level  of  the  garden  her  eyes  roamed  quickly 
around  until  they  turned  toward  where  I  was  sitting. 
Seeing  me,  she  drew  her  veil  across  her  face,  as 
though  she  resented  being  classed  with  the  unregen- 
erate  fellahin,  and  wished  to  show  more  discrim- 
ination in  her  love  affairs  than  they  could  boast,  and 
accompanied  her  companions  in  their  ostensible 
bargaining  tour  among  the  guests.  To  one  who  paid 
them  even  casual  attention  they  must  have  appeared 
as  timid  traders,  so  lacking  were  they  in  the  custo- 
mary insistence,  and  it  was  with  small  profits  and 
no  great  loss  of  time  that  they  found  their  way 
around  to  me.  As  on  the  night  before,  it  was  left  to 
lalla  to  barter  with  me.  I  again  took  both  of  her 
hands  in  mine,  to  examine  her  jewelry,  of  which  she 
wore  a  wealth  that,  like  her  looks,  belied  her  dress, 
and  as  I  did  so  I  slipped  into  one  of  them  the  tightly 
folded  note  which  I  had  been  gripping  for  an  hour  or 
more.  Her  jewels  were  much  richer  than  those  she 
had  worn  the  previous  evening  and  as  I  studied  their 
barbaric  beauty  I  softly  pressed  her  childish  hands, 
as  the  only  means  of  conveying  something  of  the  im- 

[300] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

pression  she  had  made  on  me,  for  I  did  not  know  the 
extent  to  which  the  other  women  were  in  our  secret 
or  could  be  trusted.  Her  only  response  was  one 
quick  glance,  which  I  interpreted  as  a  mixture  of 
pleasure,  surprise,  and  interrogation;  the  one  dis- 
tinctly pleasant  thing  about  it  was  that  it  contained 
nothing  of  indignation  or  hostility.  Save  for  that 
electric  flash  her  wonderful  eyes  looked  modestly 
downward  and  her  whole  attitude  was  one  of  perfect 
propriety,  which  more  than  ever  convinced  me  that 
she  was  not  what  she  pretended  to  be.  Finally  she 
drew  her  hands  away,  hurriedly  but  gently,  and  with 
an  impatient  gesture,  as  though  she  had  made  up 
her  mind  that  I  had  no  idea  of  making  a  purchase, 
led  her  companions  out  of  the  garden. 

There  was  no  sign  of  either  lalla  or  her  two  friends 
the  next  evening,  though  I  watched  for  them  closely. 
On  the  second  afternoon  I  received  a  call  from  my 
old  friend,  who  undoubtedly  had  recommended  me 
and  vouched  for  me  to  the  people  who  had  opened 
up  the  exceedingly  interesting  correspondence.  It 
was  apparently  a  casual  visit  but  its  purpose  was  re- 
vealed when,  in  the  course  of  a  general  conversation 
regarding  the  country  and  its  ways,  along  which  he 
had  cleverly  piloted  me,  he  said:  "These  Egyptians 
are  a  remarkable  people.  I  have  lived  among  them 

[301] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

long  enough  to  know  them  and  to  admire,  particu- 
larly, their  sublime  religious  faith  and  their  exalted 
sense  of  honor.  With  their  enemies,  and  with  the 
travellers  on  whom  they  prey,  they  are  tricky  and 
evasive  to  the  last  degree,  but  in  their  dealings  with 
people  whom  they  know  and  trust  they  are  the  most 
honorable  men  in  the  world.  I  don't  know  whether 
you  expect  to  have  any  dealings  with  them,  but  if 
you  do,  you  can  trust  them  absolutely." 

With  that  opening  I  was  on  the  point  of  speaking 
to  him  about  the  note  I  had  received  and  answered, 
but  before  I  could  say  a  word  he  had  started  off  on 
another  subject,  leaving  me  to  understand  that  he 
knew  all  about  the  matter  but  did  not  wish  to  talk  of 
it,  and  that  he  had  taken  that  method,  learned  from 
the  diplomats,  of  endorsing  the  people  with  whom 
he  had  put  me  in  communication.  We  gossiped  on 
for  some  time,  but  though  each  knew  what  was  upper- 
most in  the  other's  mind  neither  of  us  spoke  of  it, 
nor  was  the  subject  even  indirectly  referred  to  again. 

This  conversation  indicated  that  the  veiled  proceed- 
ings were  nearing  the  point  of  a  personal  interview 
with  some  one  who  knew  something  about  the 
scheme,  and  when  I  took  my  seat  in  the  garden 
that  evening  I  was  impatient  for  further  unfoldings. 
Not  knowing  what  might  happen,  and  despite  the 

[302] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

afternoon's  guarantee  of  good  faith  from  a  man  I 
had  every  reason  to  trust,  I  took  the  precaution  to 
arm  myself  with  two  Tranter  revolvers.  I  had  not 
been  waiting  long  when  lalla  and  her  two  companions 
appeared  and  came  straight  toward  me,  but  without 
any  sign  of  recognition.  As  she  passed  close  beside 
me,  walking  slowly,  lalla  whispered,  almost  in  my 
ear:  "Follow  me  at  ten  o'clock." 

It  was  then  about  nine-thirty.  The  inharmonious 
trio  moved  on  into  the  throng  of  guests  and,  as  the 
time  passed,  gradually  worked  their  way  around 
toward  the  stairway  leading  down  to  the  street.  A 
few  minutes  before  ten  I  descended  into  the  street  to 
wait  for  them,  so  it  could  not  be  seen  from  the  hotel 
that  I  was  following  them.  Promptly  on  the  hour 
lalla  and  her  attendants  came  down  the  steps  and 
set  off  toward  Old  Cairo,  which,  however  much  it 
may  have  been  spoiled  since,  was  then  just  the  same 
as  when  Haroun-al-Raschid  used  to  take  his  midnight 
rambles.  At  the  corner  of  the  hotel  two  men  dressed 
as  servants  stepped  out  of  a  shadow  and  fell  in  close 
behind  them,  apparently  to  prevent  me  from  en- 
gaging them  in  conversation,  which,  but  for  this 
barrier,  I  assuredly  would  have  done.  With  all 
amorous  advances  thus  discouraged  I  remained  far 
enough  behind  so  that  it  would  not  appear  that  I 

[303] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

was  one  of  the  party.  They  led  me  almost  the  full 
length  of  the  Mooshka,  the  main  street  of  the  old 
town  and  the  only  one  wide  enough  to  permit  the 
passing  of  two  carriages;  turned  into  one  of  the  nar- 
row side  streets,  then  into  another  and  another  until 
they  stopped  at  last  in  front  of  a  door  at  the  side  of 
one  of  the  little  shops.  When  I  was  within  perhaps 
fifty  feet  of  them  lalla  entered  the  door,  after  looking 
back  at  me,  while  her  four  companions  walked  rapidly 
on  down  the  street.  I  pushed  open  the  door,  which 
was  immediately  closed  by  a  servant  who  dropped  a 
bar  across  it,  and  found  lalla  waiting  for  me  in  a 
dimly  lighted  hallway.  She  led  me  nearly  to  the 
end  of  the  long  hall,  opened  a  door  and  motioned  to 
me  to  enter  and  closed  the  door  from  the  outside. 
I  found  myself  in  a  large  room,  which,  after  my  eyes 
had  become  accustomed  to  the  half  light,  I  saw  was 
magnificently  furnished.  A  fine-looking  old  Arab, 
with  gray  hair  and  beard,  was  seated  on  an  ottoman, 
smoking  a  bubble  pipe.  His  bearing  was  majestic 
and  for  the  purpose  of  easy  identification  he  will  be 
known  here  as  Regal,  though  that  was  not  his  name. 
"I  am  glad  to  see  you,  Pasha  Boynton,"  was  his 
greeting,  in  a  deep,  strong  voice.  He  proved  himself 
a  man  of  action,  and  advanced  himself  greatly  in  my 
esteem  by  giving  no  time  to  idle  chatter.  "We 

[304] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

know  you  well,"  he  said,  "through  trustworthy  in- 
formation, as  a  soldier  and  a  sailor,  and  we  believe 
you  are  peculiarly  well  equipped  for  the  work  we 
wish  you  to  undertake.  It  is  a  sea-going  expedition, 
involving  danger  of  disaster  on  one  hand  and  the 
cause  of  liberty  and  a  substantial  reward  on  the 
other.  Are  you  willing  to  attempt  it  ?  " 

"If  you  are  open  to  reasonable  terms  and  I  am 
given  full  command  of  the  expedition,  I  will  gladly 
undertake  it,"  I  replied.  "If  it  furnishes  real  ad- 
venture I  will  be  quite  willing  to  accept  that  in  part 
payment  for  my  services." 

"Then  we  should  be  able  to  agree  without  diffi- 
culty," he  answered  with  a  grim  smile.  "But,"  he 
added,  as  his  keen  face  took  on  a  stern  expression  and 
his  eyes  looked  through  mine  into  my  brain,  "  whether 
or  not  we  do  reach  an  agreement,  we  can  rely  on  you 
to  keep  our  secret  and  to  drop  no  hint  or  word 
through  which  it  might  be  revealed  ? " 

"  Absolutely,"  I  replied,  and  my  gaze  was  as  steady 
as  his.  He  studied  me  intently  for  a  full  minute  and 
then  said  decisively,  in  the  Arabic  fashion:  "It  is 
good." 

Without  further  ceremony  he  let  me  into  the  whole 
plot.  At  the  bottom  of  it  was  the  old  cry  of  "  Egypt 
for  the  Egyptians,"  which  is  not  yet  dead  and  prob- 

[305] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ably  will  not  die  for  centuries,  if  ever.  It  was  Arabi 
Pasha  who  made  the  last  desperate  fight  under  this 
slogan  and  it  was  his  release  from  exile  that  was 
sought  by  the  plotters,  in  order  that  he  might  renew 
the  war  for  native  liberty.  As  a  military  genius 
Arabi  ranked  almost  with  the  great  Ibrahim  Pasha, 
who  died  a  few  years  after  Arabi  was  born,  and  he 
was  fanatical  in  his  love  of  country.  From  a  Colonel 
in  the  army  he  became  Under  Secretary  of  War  and 
then  Minister  of  War,  in  which  position  he  was  prac- 
tically the  Dictator  of  Egypt.  With  the  aid  of  a 
secret  society  which  he  organized  among  the  native 
officers  of  the  army,  and  the  carefully  concealed  sup- 
port of  the  Sultan,  who  had  protested  vainly  against 
the  assumption  of  authority  by  the  British  and 
French  over  this  part  of  Turkish  territory,  he  planned 
and  executed  a  revolt  through  which  it  was  hoped  to 
restore  native  control  of  Egypt.  The  French,  more 
sentimental  than  selfish,  and  reluctant  to  take  ex- 
treme measures,  withdrew  at  the  last  moment,  leaving 
it  to  the  British  to  prosecute  the  war,  which  they 
did  with  characteristic  vigor.  The  bombardment  of 
Alexandria,  on  July  n  and  12,  1882,  and  the  rout  of 
his  army  at  Tel-el-Kebir  two  months  later,  dissipated 
Arabi's  dream  and,  so  far  as  surface  indications  were 
concerned,  established  British  rule  in  Egypt,  exclu- 

[306] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

sively  and  permanently.  The  movement  which 
Arabi  had  fostered  apparently  collapsed  with  that 
battle,  and  he  was  exiled  to  Ceylon  for  life. 

Briefly  and  bitterly  this  bit  of  history  was  reviewed 
by  the  old  Arab.  Then  he  became  more  animated. 
He  said  the  loyal  Egyptians  had  been  planning  a 
new  movement  against  the  British,  with  great  se- 
crecy, for  a  long  time,  and  that  the  natives  and  a 
large  part  of  the  army  were  ready  to  rise  in  revolt 
whenever  the  signal  was  given.  The  butchery  of  the 
gallant  "  Chinese "  Gordon  at  Khartoum  —  a  stain 
on  England's  fame  which  never  can  be  blotted  out  — 
had  checked  the  British  advance  in  the  Soudan  and  to 
some  extent  paralyzed  the  officials  who,  from  the 
safe  haven  of  the  War  Office  in  London,  were  draw- 
ing up  plans  of  conquest,  and  the  conspirators  believed 
the  time  had  come  for  what  they  were  confi- 
dent would  prove  a  successful  and  final  blow  for 
freedom.  But,  to  make  this  ardently  desired  result 
more  certain,  they  needed  the  inspiring  leadership  of 
Arabi  Pasha,  in  whose  talent  for  conflict  they  still 
had  great  faith,  which  doubtless  was  intensified  by 
his  enforced  absence.  Furthermore,  Regal  explained, 
the  superstitious  natives  would  hail  his  unexpected 
return  from  exile  as  a  sign  that  they  could  not  be 
defeated  and  would  fight  more  desperately  and  deter- 

[307] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

minedly  than  before.  Through  spies  it  had  been 
learned  that  Arabi  was  confined  at  a  point  near  the 
coast,  only  a  short  distance  from  Colombo,  the  capital 
of  Ceylon.  He  was  allowed  considerable  freedom, 
within  certain  prescribed  limits,  and  was  in  the  cus- 
tody of  only  a  small  guard.  His  escape  was  regarded 
as  impossible  and  the  idea  that  an  attempt  might  be 
made  to  rescue  him  seemingly  had  not  entered  the 
minds  of  those  responsible  for  his  safe-keeping. 

Yet  that  was  precisely  what  I  was  asked  to  accom- 
plish. After  Regal  had  stated  the  conditions  of 
Arabi's  captivity  he  dramatically  declared,  with  flash- 
ing eyes:  "The  fires  which  the  British  foolishly 
thought  they  had  stamped  out,  were  not,  and  could 
never  be,  extinguished.  They  have  been  smouldering 
ever  since  and  are  now  ready  to  burst  into  a  flame 
that  will  consume  everything  before  it.  We  need 
only  the  presence  of  the  great  Arabi.  You  can  bring 
him  to  us.  With  a  ship,  whose  true  mission  is  con- 
cealed by  methods  of  which  we  know  you  to  be  a 
master,  you  can  sail  to  a  point  close  to  his  place  of 
confinement.  As  soon  as  it  is  dark  and  quiet  forty 
or  fifty  of  our  brave  men,  who  will  accompany  you, 
will  be  landed.  They  will  steal  upon  his  guards  and 
silence  them  and  return  with  the  General  to  your 
ship.  There  will  be  none  left  to  give  the  alarm  and 

[308] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

by  the  time  it  is  discovered  that  he  has  been  snatched 
away  from  their  cursed  hands  you  will  be  far  out  of 
sight,  and  with  your  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  those 
who  sail  the  sea  it  should  not  be  difficult  for  you  to 
avoid  capture.  You  will  land  Arabi  at  some  point  to 
be  decided  on,  from  which  he  can  make  his  way  to 
Cairo.  With  his  coming  our  banners  will  be  unfurled 
and  Egypt  will  be  restored  to  the  Egyptians.  It  is  a 
mission  in  the  cause  of  freedom  and  humanity.  Are 
you  willing  to  undertake  it  ? " 

Long  before  he  reached  it,  I  saw  his  objective  point, 
and  ran  the  whole  scheme  over  in  my  mind  while  he 
was  laying  down  its  principles.  It  did  not  strike  me 
as  being  at  all  foolhardy.  As  I  have  said  before,  it 
is  the  so-called  impossibilities  which,  when  they  are 
not  really  impossible,  as  few  of  them  are,  can  be  most 
easily  accomplished,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  not 
guarded  against.  Under  the  conditions  described, 
the  rescue  of  Arabi  would  be  comparatively  a  simple 
matter.  The  chief  danger  would  come  from  the 
British  warships  which  would  swarm  the  seas  as 
soon  as  his  disappearance  was  discovered,  for  it 
would  be  a  natural  conclusion  that  he  was  on  some 
vessel  on  his  way  back  to  Egypt.  This  danger 
appealed  to  me,  for  it  augured  well  for  adventure. 
It  would  be  a  game  of  hide-and-seek,  such  as  I  in- 

[309] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

tensely  enjoyed,  with  my  wits  pitted  against  those  of 
the  British  Navy,  and  with  my  varied  experiences  in 
deep-sea  deception,  I  did  not  consider  that  the  odds 
against  me  would  be  overwhelming.  Therefore  I 
promptly  assured  the  old  patriot,  whose  anxiety  and 
excitement  were  shown  in  his  blazing  eyes,  that  I 
would  cheerfully  assume  responsibility  for  Arabi's 
rescue  and  his  safe  delivery  at  almost  any  point  that 
might  be  designated. 

"It  is  good,"  he  replied,  slowly  and  impressively. 
"Egypt  will  be  free." 

Profoundly  wishing  that  the  noble  little  "Leck- 
with"  was  at  my  service  instead  of  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea,  I  added  that  I  had  no  ship  and  it  would  be 
necessary  to  purchase  one,  as  it  would  be  imprac- 
ticable to  charter  a  vessel  for  such  a  purpose.  This 
meant  that  the  expedition  would  require  some  finan- 
cing, in  addition  to  the  charge  for  my  services.  With 
a  gesture  which  indicated  that  everything  was  settled 
in  his  mind  and  that  it  was  only  necessary  for  me 
to  name  my  terms  to  have  them  agreed  to,  Regal  said 
he  anticipated  no  difficulty  on  that  point  and  sug- 
gested that  I  return  the  next  afternoon  or  evening  to 
meet  his  associates,  who  comprised  the  inner  circle  of 
the  revolutionary  party.  I  told  him  I  would  be  glad  to 

[310] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 


come  at  any  hour  but  I  doubted  that  I  could  find  my 
way  through  the  labyrinth  of  narrow  streets. 

"How  has  the  person  who  guided  you  here  con- 
ducted herself  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Irreproachably." 

"  She  will  signal  you  to-morrow  afternoon  or  even- 
ing. Follow  her." 

With  that  he  arose,  terminating  the  interview;  we 
solemnly  shook  hands  and  he  escorted  me  to  the 
door.  I  was  wondering  how  I  should  find  the  way 
back  to  my  hotel  when  I  descried  lalla  and  her  four 
shadows  waiting  for  me  a  short  distance  down  the 
street.  Without  a  word  they  showed  me  the  course 
until  I  made  out  the  hotel,  when  they  disappeared 
down  a  side  street. 

I  was  lounging  in  the  garden  early  the  next  after- 
noon, for  there  was  no  telling  when  the  summons 
might  come  and  I  would  take  no  chance  of  missing  it. 
It  was  about  four  o'clock,  at  which  hour  all  Cairo 
was  on  parade  and  the  crowd  was  thickest  around  the 
hotel,  that  lalla  and  her  faithful  female  guards  en- 
tered the  lively  scene.  Her  face  was  almost  entirely 
hidden  by  her  veil  but  there  was  no  mistaking  her 
eyes.  They  caught  mine  and  a  quick  little  beckoning 
motion,  which  no  one  else  would  have  noticed,  told 
me  to  follow  her.  She  soon  left,  walking  slowly,  and 

[311] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

I  took  up  the  trail,  restraining  myself  with  an  effort 
from  approaching  her  more  closely  than  wisdom  dic- 
tated. Avoiding  the  crowded  Mooshka  they  led  me, 
by  a  more  circuitous  route,  back  to  the  house  where 
I  had  been  so  agreeably  entertained  the  night  before, 
and  which  was  entered  in  the  same  way.  Regal  was 
waiting  for  me  and  with  him  were  five  of  his  country- 
men, to  whom  I  was  introduced  en  bloc.  They  were 
dignified  and  reserved  but  sharp-eyed  and  vig- 
orous and  they  looked  like  fighters  of  the  first  water. 
They  were  much  younger  than  Regal  and  evidently, 
from  the  deference  shown  him,  he  was  the  chief 
conspirator. 

"These,"  he  said,  with  a  courtly  wave  of  his  hand 
toward  the  others,  "are  the  relatives  and  companions- 
in-arms  of  Arabi  Pasha  and  the  men  who,  with  me, 
are  directing  our  operations.  They  are  perfectly 
responsible,  as  you  will  see,  and  in  every  way  entitled 
to  your  confidence,  as  you  are  worthy  of  theirs." 

With  this  formal  assurance  we  sat  down  to  a  de- 
tailed discussion  of  the  project.  They  told  me  of  their 
plans,  as  Regal  had  previously  explained  them  in  a 
general  way,  and  professed  confidence  that  with 
Arabi  in  personal  command  of  their  forces,  and  with 
the  active  cooperation  of  the  Soudanese,  which  was 
assured,  they  would  drive  the  hated  British  out  of 

[312] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

Egypt,  and  keep  them  out.  Their  knowledge  of  the 
surroundings  at  Arabi's  place  of  confinement  and 
their  plan  for  overpowering  his  guards  and  securing 
his  release,  which  was  complete  to  the  slaughter  of 
the  last  man,  showed  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
conditions  that  surprised  me.  From  all  they  told 
me  on  this  point  I  gained  the  idea  that  they  were 
working  in  harmony  with  their  brother  Mohamme- 
dans in  India,  and  that  the  latter  were  planning  a 
similar  uprising  when  the  conditions  were  judged 
to  be  opportune.  Developments  since  then  have 
strengthened  this  belief  into  a  conviction.  It  is  never 
wise  to  predict,  but  when  England  some  day  becomes 
involved  in  a  war  with  a  first-class  power,  like  Ger- 
many for  instance,  which  will  tax  her  fighting  forces 
to  the  limit,  there  need  be  no  surprise  if  the  natives 
of  Egypt  and  India  rise  simultaneously  and  become 
their  own  masters. 

It  was  urged  by  them  and  agreed  that  I  should 
take  no  part  in  the  actual  rescue  of  Arabi  but  remain 
on  the  ship,  to  guard  against  any  surprise  by  water 
and  to  be  ready  to  steam  westward  as  soon  as  the 
party  returned.  I  was  to  stand  in  close  to  the  shore 
just  after  dark,  with  all  lights  doused,  and  it  was 
thought  that  Arabi  would  be  safe  on  board  long 
enough  before  sunrise  so  that  we  could  be  well  clear 

[313] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

of  the  land  by  daylight.  The  point  at  which  Arabi 
was  to  be  landed  caused  considerable  discussion.  As 
the  British  were  certain  to  promptly  patrol  the  Red 
Sea,  with  all  of  the  warships  that  could  be  hurried 
into  it,  and  closely  guard  the  Strait  of  Bab-el-Man- 
deb,  it  was  tentatively  decided  that  the  safest  and 
wisest  course  would  be  to  put  him  ashore  near  Jibuti, 
on  friendly  French  soil,  from  which  point  he  could 
pick  a  pathway  through  Abyssinia  and  down  the 
Nile,  with  little  danger  of  detection  and  with  the 
advantage  of  being  able  to  arouse  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  Soudanese  and  other  tribes  through  which  he 
passed.  I  was  in  favor  of  running  the  gantlet  of  the 
Strait  and  landing  him  two  or  three  hundred  miles 
south  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  which  would  expedite  the 
revolt  and  also  make  things  more  exciting,  but 
the  others  feared  this  would  expose  him  too  much  to 
the  danger  of  recapture.  They  were  for  the  surest  way 
and  said  that  more  reckless  methods  could  wait  until 
he  was  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  This  conclusion 
as  to  the  landing  place,  however,  was  not  final.  It 
was  understood  that  I  would  receive  definite  instruc- 
tions when  I  put  in  at  Saukin,  on  the  way  out,  to  take 
on  the  fifty  proud  and  trusted  warriors  who  were  to 
effect  the  release  of  their  revered  leader. 

The  fact  that  consideration  of  terms  was  the  last 
[314] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

question  brought  up  was  a  delicate  compliment  to  my 
supposed  fairness  which  I  appreciated.  Instead  of 
asking  them  for  fifty  thousand  pounds,  as  I  had  in- 
tended to,  I  stipulated  only  forty  thousand,  one-half 
of  which  was  to  be  advanced  to  me  for  the  purchase 
of  a  suitable  ship.  The  ship  was,  of  course,  to  be 
turned  over  to  them  at  the  conclusion  of  the  expedi- 
tion. I  was  to  pay  all  expenses  and  collect  the 
remaining  twenty  thousand  pounds  after  Arabi  had 
been  landed.  If  they  had  fixed  the  terms  themselves 
they  could  not  have  agreed  to  them  more  readily,  and 
I  was  asked  to  return  at  ten  o'clock  the  next  evening 
for  the  initial  payment. 

Our  negotiations  thus  rapidly  concluded,  I  was  in- 
vited to  remain  to  dinner,  which  is  the  crowning 
honor  of  Egyptian  confidence  and  hospitality.  I 
needed  no  urging  and  never  have  I  enjoyed  a  meal 
more.  The  table-talk  was  general,  but  running  all 
through  it  was  the  love  of  freedom  and  the  plan 
through  which  they  hoped  to  realize  their  passion. 
Their  interest  in  American  affairs  was  only  that 
called  for  by  courtesy,  but  they  made  me  tell  many 
stories  of  our  wars  with  England,  from  which  they 
derived  much  satisfaction. 

"We  are  as  much  entitled  to  our  freedom  as  you 
are,"  declared  one  of  my  hosts,  whose  green  turban 

[315] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

indicated  that  he  could  trace  his  ancestry  back  to 
Mahomet,  "and  we  will  win  ours  in  the  end,  just  as 
your  people  won  theirs.  We  may  be  a  strange 
people,"  he  added,  reflectively,  "but  we  are  not  so 
bad  as  we  have  been  painted.  The  howadji  [strangers] 
condemn  our  religion  without  understanding  it 
and  preach  to  us  another,  which,  so  far  as  we  can 
observe  from  its  practices,  falls  far  short  of  our  own. 
Mohammedanism  needs  no  defence  from  me,  but  I 
will  tell  you  just  one  thing  about  it.  If  you  were 
now  to  murder  my  brother  I  could  not  lay  hands 
on  you  or  harm  you,  for  you  have  eaten  of  my  salt, 
but  not  even  Mahomet  could  make  me  cease  to  hate 
you  in  my  heart.  Does  the  Christian  religion,  of 
which  the  British  are  so  proud,  teach  you  that  ?  " 

I  confessed  that  it  didn't,  so  far  as  I  had  informa- 
tion or  belief,  and  made  my  sincere  salaams  to  his 
faith.  If  I  am  ever  to  become  afflicted  with  any 
religious  beliefs,  I  hope  they  will  be  those  taught  by 
Mahomet. 

When  I  finally  started  back  to  my  hotel  lalla  and 
her  attendants  were  waiting  for  me  in  the  alley,  for 
it  was  not  wide  enough  to  be  called  a  street.  They 
started  on  ahead,  but  we  had  gone  only  a  few  short 
blocks  when  her  four  companions  walked  briskly 
away  and  she  waited  for  me,  in  a  shadow  so  deep 

[316] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

that  I  at  first  thought  she  had  entered  one  of  the 
queer  houses  and  my  spirits  fell,  to  be  revivified  a 
moment  later  when  I  almost  ran  into  her. 

"  How  did  your  business  turn  out  ? "  she  inquired 
anxiously,  as  I  bowed  low  before  her.  Her  voice, 
which  I  had  been  longing  to  hear,  was  soft  and  clear, 
as  well  became  her,  and  her  radiant  beauty  shone 
forth  through  the  darkness. 

"Thanks  to  your  cleverness,"  I  replied,  "it  has 
turned  out  well." 

"Then  you  are  going  to  rescue  my  uncle,"  she 
exclaimed  delightedly.  Her  sparkling  eyes  flamed 
with  excitement  and,  as  if  to  seal  the  compact,  she 
extended  her  hand,  which  I  first  pressed  and  then 
kissed.  Then  I  slipped  it  through  my  arm  and 
started  to  walk  out  of  the  shadow  into  the  moon- 
light, and  she  accompanied  me  without  protest. 

She  had  exchanged  her  cotton  robe  for  one  of  silk, 
which  was  much  more  fitting,  and  as  I  looked  down 
on  her  I  thought  her  the  most  beautiful  woman 
I  had  ever  seen.  If  I  had  held  the  same  opinion  as 
to  others  of  her  sex  I  was  not  reminded  of  it  then, 
and  there  was  no  manner  of  doubt  that  I  was  deeply 
in  love  with  her.  We  walked  long  and  talked  much, 
and  some  of  it  was  interesting.  She  told  me,  though 
it  did  not  need  the  telling,  that  she  was  a  lady  and 

[317] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

that  she  had  risked  her  reputation  and  exposed  her- 
self to  coarsest  insult  by  appearing  in  public  unveiled 
and  dressed  as  a  servant,  out  of  love  for  her  uncle 
and  devotion  to  his  cause.  To  prevent  suspicion  it 
had  been  determined  that  communication  should  be 
opened  with  me  through  a  woman,  and  she  had  volun- 
teered for  the  service.  She  said  she  had  seen  me  at 
the  Khedive's  reception,  which  she  had  witnessed 
through  the  fretwork  from  the  apartments  of  the 
Khedivah  —  from  which  it  appeared  that  I  had  been 
under  consideration  by  the  revolutionary  leaders  for 
several  weeks  before  I  was  approached  —  and  so  she 
knew  the  man  to  whom  the  introductory  note  was  to 
be  delivered.  The  two  women  servants,  who  could 
not  be  trusted  with  such  confidential  correspondence, 
accompanied  her  for  the  double  purpose  of  protect- 
ing her  as  much  as  possible  and  carrying  out  the 
peddling  pretence.  This  explained  why  she  had  kept 
in  the  background  and  covered  her  face  with  her 
scraggly  veil  most  of  the  time.  On  her  first  visit,  she 
said,  she  had  fully  exposed  her  face  so  that  I  might 
see  she  was  not  of  the  class  of  her  companions  and 
be  the  more  willing  to  hold  commercial  converse  with 
her;  in  her  heart  she  knew  her  beauty  would  attract 
me,  wherein  she  displayed  an  abundantly  justifiable 
confidence  in  her  charms,  but  she  expressed  it  with- 

[318] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

out  the  words  or  style  of  vanity.  Except  for  that 
brief  period  when  she  was  altogether  unveiled  she 
said  she  really  did  not  have  great  fear  of  being  dis- 
covered, for  it  was  unlikely  that  any  of  her  friends 
would  be  around  the  hotel  at  the  hours  when  she 
went  there,  and,  even  if  they  did  see  her,  it  was  im- 
probable that  they  would  recognize  her  in  fellahin 
attire.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  she  confessed,  as  we 
became  better  acquainted,  she  had  entered  into  the 
plot  not  only  through  love  for  her  distinguished 
uncle,  to  whom  she  was  devoted,  but  from  a  liking 
for  doing  things  that  were  out  of  the  ordinary. 

It  was  this  same  spirit  which  induced  her,  on  the 
night  of  my  first  opportunity  to  tell  her  of  her  beauty 
and  my  fervid  love  for  her,  to  bribe  her  servants  to 
disappear  for  a  time.  By  the  light  of  the  Egyptian 
moon,  which  would  inspire  even  a  lout  of  a  lover,  I 
told  her,  in  words  that  burned,  of  the  passion  she  had 
implanted  within  me  by  the  first  glance  of  her  won- 
derful eyes,  and  I  was  encouraged  by  the  fact  that 
she  seemed  more  sympathetic  than  otherwise.  We 
walked  for  hours  through  deserted  streets  that  were 
far  from  lonely  until  at  last  we  came  to  a  corner  near 
the  hotel  where  her  attendants  were  waiting  for  her, 
patiently,  I  presumed,  from  their  natures,  but  whether 
patiently  or  not  was  of  no  concern  to  me. 

[319] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

The  next  night  I  found  my  way  alone  to  Regal's 
abode  and  received  the  first  payment  of  twenty 
thousand  pounds,  in  Paris  exchange.  There  was  a 
final  conference,  at  which  all  of  the  details  were  gone 
over  again  as  a  precaution  against  any  misunder- 
standing, and  I  took  my  departure  with  many  good 
wishes.  lalla  and  her  two  women  attendants  were 
waiting  for  me,  as  had  been  arranged,  and  my  love- 
making  was  resumed  where  I  had  left  off  on  the  pre- 
ceding night.  lalla  was  more  responsive  than  before, 
but  when  I  urged  her  to  go  with  me  to  France  or 
marry  me  at  once  in  Cairo  she  would  not  listen. 
Finally  she  said :  "  After  you  have  rescued  my  uncle 
I  will  go  with  you  anywhere,  but  not  until  then  will 
I  think  of  marriage." 

Nothing  could  move  her  from  that  decision.  I 
arranged  to  meet  her  the  next  night  and  the  one  fol- 
lowing, and  several  others,  which  she  accomplished 
by  the  popular  method  of  bribing  her  attendants,  but, 
though  it  was  a  joy  to  her  to  be  told  of  my  love  there 
was  no  way  by  which  she  could  be  induced  to  yield 
to  it  until  her  uncle  was  free.  Finally  she  regretfully 
insisted  that  I  must  leave,  for  her  relatives,  she  said, 
were  becoming  seriously  disturbed  over  the  fact  that 
I  had  remained  so  long  in  Cairo,  instead  of  going 
about  the  important  business  at  hand.  In  my  in- 

[320] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 


fatuation  I  had  forgotten  discretion  and  my  promise 
to  conduct  the  expedition  with  all  possible  speed. 
Even  when  this  was  brought  home  to  me  it  required 
all  of  my  will  power  to  say  au  revoir  to  the  beauteous 
lalla,  though  I  expected  to  see  her  soon  again  and 
hold  her  to  her  promise. 

I  went  to  Marseilles  and  called  on  a  hulssier 
d'marine,  or  ship  broker,  named  Oliviera,  to  whom 
I  had  been  recommended.  After  looking  over  several 
ships  that  were  for  sale  I  bought  "  L'Hirondelle " 
(The  Swallow),  a  coasting  steamer  of  eight  hundred 
tons  that  had  been  running  between  Marseilles  and 
Citta  Vecchia,  the  port  of  Rome.  She  was  old  but  in 
good  condition  and  could  do  seventeen  knots  or  bet- 
ter. I  took  command  of  the  ship  and  my  first  and 
second  officers  were  Leigh  and  Wilson,  who  came 
down  from  London  in  response  to  a  telegram,  bring- 
ing with  them  half  a  dozen  men  whom  I  knew  could 
be  trusted.  The  crew  was  filled  out  with  Frenchmen 
and  we  headed  for  Suakin,  far  down  on  the  Egyptian 
side  of  the  Red  Sea.  There  I  was  to  receive  final 
instructions  and  pick  up  the  Arabs  who  were  to  do 
the  manual  labor,  and  whatever  assassination  was 
necessary,  in  connection  with  Arabi's  restoration  to 
his  countrymen.  As  soon  as  we  were  in  the  Red  Sea 
I  stripped  off  the  ship's  French  name,  rechristened 

[321] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

her  the  "Adventure,"  hoisted  the  British  flag  over 
her,  and  gave  her  a  forged  set  of  papers  in  keeping 
with  her  name  and  nationality. 

At  Suakin  one  of  the  great  surprises  of  my  life 
awaited  me.  We  had  scarcely  tied  up  when  the  man 
from  whom  I  was  to  receive  the  warriors  came  aboard 
with  a  letter  from  Regal  directing  me  to  turn  the 
ship  over  to  him  and  discharge  the  crew.  The  agent 
could  not  understand  the  change  of  plan  any  more 
than  I  could,  and  I  could  not  even  guess  as  to  the 
cause,  but  he  was  there  to  obey  orders  and  there  was 
nothing  else  for  me  to  do.  I  could  not  make  any  kind 
of  a  formal  protest  without  revealing  something  con- 
cerning my  mission,  which  I  would  not  do,  and,  be- 
sides that,  the  ship  did  not  belong  to  me.  Feeling 
sure  there  would  be  a  satisfactory  explanation  wait- 
ing for  me  at  Cairo  I  returned  there,  after  paying  off 
the  crew  and  sending  them  back  to  Marseilles  and 
London  in  charge  of  Leigh  and  Wilson. 

I  was  still  more  mystified  when,  on  reaching  Cairo, 
I  was  unable  to  find  Regal,  lalla,  or  any  one  else  con- 
nected with  the  undertaking,  nor  could  I  get  the 
slightest  trace  of  them.  I  located  the  house  in  which 
I  had  been  so  charmingly  admitted  into  the  con- 
spiracy, but  the  people  living  there  were  strangers, 
so  far  as  I  was  permitted  to  observe  or  could  ascer- 

[322] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

tain,  and  they  insisted  they  knew  nothing  at  all 
concerning  the  previous  occupants.  If  I  could  have 
searched  the  house  I  might  have  found  out  differ- 
ently, but  that  was  out  of  the  question.  Here  was 
Egyptian  mystery  beyond  what  I  had  bargained  for. 
It  was  as  though  I  had  been  roughly  awakened  from 
a  delightfully  realistic  dream.  The  only  theory  on 
which  I  could  explain  the  puzzle  was  that  the  govern- 
ment had  in  some  way  learned  of  the  plot,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  every  one  identified  with  it  had 
disappeared,  leaving  it  to  me  to  take  the  hint  and  do 
likewise.  In  the  hope  of  seeing  lalla  again  and  deter- 
mined to  secure  some  definite  clue  as  to  just  what  had 
happened  in  my  absence,  I  waited  around  for  two 
weeks  or  more,  until  I  encountered  the  old  friend 
who,  I  knew,  was  responsible  for  my  connection  with 
the  conspiracy.  I  did  not  dissemble,  as  I  had  before, 
but  took  him  to  my  room,  told  him  the  riddle,  and 
asked  him  the  answer.  I  did  not  expect  him  to  admit 
anything  and  was  not  disappointed.  What  he  said, 
in  substance,  was  this :  "  Of  course  I  know  nothing 
about  the  plot  of  which  you  have  told  me.  If  what 
you  say  is  true  I  should  say  that  you  have  been  mak- 
ing something  of  a  fool  of  yourself  over  this  lalla 
and  that  you  have  only  yourself  to  blame  for  the 
abrupt  ending  which  seems  to  have  been  reached. 

[323] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

You  are  very  shrewd  and  far-sighted  and  I  will  admit 
that  ordinarily  you  are  not  much  moved  by  senti- 
ment, but  this  black-eyed  beauty  seems  to  have 
carried  you  off  your  feet.  These  women  are  the 
greatest  flirts  in  the  world.  There  is  nothing  they 
enjoy  so  much  as  clandestine  meetings  at  which  they 
can  listen  to  passionate  protestations  of  love,  and 
when  these  come  from  a  foreigner  their  cup  of  happi- 
ness is  full.  You  thought  lalla  was  in  love  with  you, 
but  she  was  only  having  a  good  time  with  you,  and 
she  has  taken  a  lot  of  pride  in  telling  her  friends  about 
your  meetings  at  their  afternoon  gatherings  in  the 
old  cemetery  for  the  exchange  of  gossip.  She  had 
no  idea  of  marrying  you,  an  unbeliever,  you  may  be 
sure  of  that.  It  may  be  that  she  thought  she  was 
stimulating  you  to  deeds  of  heroism  in  the  rescue  of 
her  uncle,  but,  if  she  considered  that  at  all,  it  was  a 
secondary  matter.  The  men  you  were  dealing  with 
have  the  contempt  of  their  race  for  all  women.  They 
cannot  understand  how  any  man  can  become  so 
enamoured  of  a  woman,  no  matter  how  beautiful,  as 
to  let  it  interfere  with  his  business.  When  a  man 
who,  for  the  time  being,  has  the  leading  role  in  a 
prospective  revolution,  so  far  forgets  himself  as  to 
waste  a  week  of  valuable  time  in  running  after  a 
flirtatious  female  they  are  quite  likely  to  conclude 

[324] 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  NILE 

that  he  is  too  foolish  and  reckless  to  be  trusted  with 
such  an  important  matter.  They  would  argue  that 
no  man  who  could  be  relied  on  to  carry  out  their 
plan  would  display  such  lack  of  judgment.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  there  may  be  some  other  reason  for  the 
situation  in  which  you  find  yourself,  but  I  doubt  it. 
The  wisest  course  for  you  is  to  tell  me  how  you  can 
be  reached,  and  leave  Cairo,  for  you  can  gain  nothing 
by  staying  here.  It  is  known  to  many  persons  that  I 
know  you  and  if  any  one  should  want  to  get  in  com- 
munication with  you,  I  will  be  able  to  tell  him  how  to 
do  it." 

Possessing  all  the  pride  of  a  full-blooded  man,  I 
resented  the  calm  assertion  that  I  had  been  ensnared 
by  a  flirt,  and  a  somewhat  acrimonious  argument  fol- 
lowed, but,  in  looking  back  at  it  now,  I  am  willing 
to  admit  that  probably  my  friend  was  right  about  it. 
Perhaps  lalla  was  not,  after  all,  the  perfect  woman 
that,  under  the  magic  spell  of  her  marvellous  beauty, 
I  imagined  her  to  be,  and  possibly  if  I  had  not  sur- 
rendered so  suddenly  to  her  charms  Arabi  Pasha 
might  have  been  freed  and  Egypt  might  now  be  an 
Empire.  Whether  or  not  that  is  true,  I  have  no 
regrets  on  the  subject,  except  that  I  never  saw  lalla 
again.  My  moonlight  meetings  with  her  were,  at 

[325] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

least,  a  diversion,  and  they  gave  me  great  enjoyment 
while  they  lasted. 

Though  it  went  against  the  grain  I  was  compelled 
to  admit  that  my  friend's  advice  was  the  best  I  could 
get,  and  I  reluctantly  followed  it.  Feeling  that  for 
once  my  destiny  had  played  it  a  bit  low  down  on  me 
I  crossed  the  Mediterranean  and  took  a  French  liner 
for  New  York.  I  had  spent  four  months  and  much 
money  in  studying  the  Sphinx,  but  I  did  not  count 
them  as  lost.  lalla's  loveliness  was  in  my  mind  for 
a  long  time  and  while  it  remained  I  cherished  the 
hope  that  I  would  be  recalled  to  carry  out  the  plan 
for  the  rescue  of  her  uncle,  but  the  summons  never 
came.  Eleven  years  later  Arabi  was  pardoned  and 
returned  to  Egypt,  but  his  influence  among  his  own 
people  was  gone;  the  fact  that  he  had  accepted  a 
pardon  implied,  to  their  astute  minds,  a  secret  agree- 
ment with  their  enemies  and  caused  him  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  tool  of  the  British.  But,  as  very  recent 
events  have  demonstrated,  the  fires  of  freedom  are 
still  burning,  and  now  and  again  signal  smoke  is 
seen  rising  over  India. 


[326] 


CHAPTER   XIV 
RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

^T\HE  friendliness  of  Fate,  in  throwing  me  in  the 
•*•  way  of  adventures  which  were  beyond  my  dis- 
cernment, was  never  more  plainly  evidenced  than  on 
my  return  to  New  York  from  Australia  and  Egypt 
in  1890.  On  the  trip  across  the  Atlantic  my  mind 
had  wandered  away  from  the  West  Indies  and  I  ex- 
perienced an  increasing  desire  to  return  to  South 
America,  but  one  of  the  first  things  I  heard  on  my 
arrival  was  that  my  old  friend  Guzman  Blanco  had 
finally  been  shorn  of  his  supreme  power  in  Vene- 
zuela only  a  few  months  before.  He  had  been  betrayed 
by  his  friends,  after  the  established  fashion  of  that 
captivating  country,  and  Dr.  Anduesa  Palacio,  one 
of  his  enemies  of  years,  had  been  made  President  with 
the  approval  and  assistance  of  Dr.  Rojas  Paul,  the 
dummy  whom  Guzman  had  left  as  titular  head  of  the 
government  while  he  was  revelling  in  Paris,  his  for- 
eign capital.  This  discouraged  me  for  a  time  in  my 
half-formed  plan  to  return  to  my  Southern  stamping 
ground,  and  as  I  had  plenty  of  money  and  was  not 
averse  to  a  rest,  I  concluded  to  wait  around,  Micaw- 

[327] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

her  like,  for  something  to  turn  up.  But  it  was  not 
long  until  a  silent  voice  began  calling  me  to  South 
America;  softly,  at  first,  and  then  so  loudly  that  it 
came  as  a  command.  I  had  heard  the  same  sort  of 
an  order  before,  and  only  very  recently,  and  was  not 
disposed  to  disregard  it.  I  felt  sure  it  would  not  lead 
me  into  disappointment  twice  in  succession. 

Without  knowing  where  or  how  the  cruise  would 
end,  but  confident  it  would  lead  to  trouble  —  though 
I  did  not  imagine  how  much  of  it  there  really  would 
be  or  how  unpleasant  it  would  prove  —  I  bought  the 
"  Alice  Ada,"  a  brigantine  of  three  hundred  tons,  laid 
her  on  with  Thos.  Norton  &  Sons,  and  got  a  general 
cargo  for  Rosario,  Brazil,  on  the  River  Parava. 
From  Rosario  I  went  one  hundred  miles  up  the  river 
to  St.  Stephens  and  took  on  a  cargo  of  wheat  for  Rio 
Janiero.  As  soon  as  I  had  looked  around  a  little  in 
Rio,  while  the  cargo  was  being  unloaded,  I  under- 
stood why  I  had  gone  there,  for  my  expectant  eye 
distinguished  signs  of  a  nice  little  revolution  which 
was  just  being  shaped  up.  These  indications,  though 
somewhat  vague  to  even  an  experienced  new  arrival, 
were  so  encouraging  in  their  promise  of  exciting 
events  that  I  sold  my  ship  and  took  quarters  at  the 
Hotel  Freitas  to  watch  developments.  I  had  not  long 
to  wait  before  the  young  republic  celebrated  its  first 

[328] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

revolution,  but  it  was  accomplished  in  such  a  dis- 
gracefully quiet  way,  and  in  such  marked  contrast 
with  that  sort  of  proceeding  in  Venezuela,  and  in 
Central  America  and  the  West  Indies,  that  I  was 
thoroughly  disgusted  with  the  country  and  was 
tempted  to  move  on  again  into  new  fields.  A  land  in 
which  the  government  is  changed  by  the  force  of 
public  sentiment  alone,  and  without  the  booming  of 
cannon  and  the  bursting  of  bombs,  has  no  charm  for 
me. 

When  the  last  Emperor  of  Brazil,  Dom  Pedro  II, 
was  dragged  out  of  bed  at  night  and  deported  with- 
out the  firing  of  a  shot,  in  the  "  Peaceful  Revolution  " 
of  November  15,  1889,  Deodoro  da  Fonseca  was 
made  President  by  the  lovers  of  liberty  and  equality, 
which  purely  imaginary  conditions  of  life  never  will 
be  found  in  any  country.  Before  his  weakness  had 
become  apparent  he  was  made  Constitutional  Presi- 
dent and  Floriano  Peixotto  was  elected  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  Deodoro  had  neither  the  firmness  nor  the 
initiative  that  the  situation  demanded.  His  policy 
was  weak  and  vacillating  and  his  popularity  waned 
rapidly.  The  revolution  which  was  in  the  process 
of  formation  when  I  arrived  on  the  scene  was,  I  dis- 
covered, being  quietly  fomented  by  Floriano,  the 
Vice-President.  He  soon  had  the  army  at  his  back 

[329] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

and,  as  the  people  were  beginning  to  clamor  for  him, 
it  was  an  easy  matter  to  gain  the  support  of  Admiral 
Mello,  the  ranking  officer  of  the  Brazilian  Navy,  and 
Admiral  Soldanha  da  Gama,  commandant  of  the  naval 
academy.  They  brought  matters  to  a  head  on  the 
morning  of  November  23,  1891.  Mello  took  up  a 
position  at  the  foot  of  the  main  street  of  Rio  in  the 
cruiser  "Riachuelo,"  the  finest  ship  in  the  navy, 
trained  his  guns  on  the  palace  of  Itumary,  and  sent 
word  to  Deodoro  that  he  would  open  fire  on  him  in 
two  hours  if  he  did  not  abdicate  in  favor  of  Floriano. 
Deodoro  abdicated  in  two  minutes,  and  dropped  dead 
soon  afterward  from  heart  disease,  and  Floriano  was 
proclaimed  President. 

Before  he  had  time  to  get  his  new  chair  well 
warmed  he  had  a  row  with  Mello,  and  as  soon  as  I 
heard  of  it  I  foresaw  another  revolution,  which  pleas- 
ing prospect  prompted  me  to  remain  in  Brazil,  for 
I  did  not  believe  it  could  possibly  prove  as  uninter- 
esting as  those  that  had  preceded  it.  Mello  regarded 
himself  as  the  President-maker  and  considered  that 
he  was  rightfully  entitled  to  be  the  power  behind 
the  throne.  However,  Floriano  was  not  at  all  con- 
stituted for  the  role  of  a  mere  figurehead  and  he  made 
it  plain  to  Mello  that  while  he  might  make  courteous 
suggestions  and  even  give  friendly  advice,  he  could 

[330] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

not  go  an  inch  beyond  that.  Floriano  was  really  a 
remarkable  man.  He  was  perhaps  one-half  Indian 
and  the  rest  corrupted  Portuguese;  sixty  years  old, 
with  clear,  brown  eyes  and  iron  gray  hair  and  whis- 
kers. A  strong,  fine  character  he  was ;  perfectly  fear- 
less, absolutely  honest  and  devoted  to  his  country, 
whose  interests  he  greatly  advanced.  He  was  proud 
of  his  Indian  blood,  which  he  made  a  synonyme  for 
courage  and  fairness,  and  often  referred  to  it.  He 
was  the  best  President  I  have  ever  known,  not  ex- 
cepting even  the  great  Guzman. 

Mello  was  a  younger  man  and  more  of  a  Spaniard 
in  his  blood  and  his  characteristics.  He  had  con- 
siderable bravery,  of  the  kind  that  is  best  displayed 
in  the  presence  of  a  large  audience,  but  he  was  im- 
petuous and  at  times  foolish.  He  was  abnormally 
ambitious  and  believed  in  a  rule  or  ruin  policy.  At 
that,  he  was  more  a  man  after  my  own  heart,  for  he 
stood  for  revolt  and  anarchy,  while  Floriano  stood  for 
law  and  order.  Soldanha  da  Gama,  the  third  figure  in 
the  drama,  was  a  strange  mixture  of  naval  ability, 
cowardice,  and  theatrical  bravery. 

When  Floriano  refused  to  be  dictated  to  or  even 
influenced  in  his  views  as  to  what  was  best  for  Brazil, 
Mello  proceeded  to  plot  against  him  with  even  more 
earnestness  than  he  had  displayed  in  the  plans  to 

[331] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

overthrow  Deodoro.  He  worked  chiefly  among  the 
naval  officers,  the  aristocrats,  the  adherents  of  Dom 
Pedro,  and  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  in  the  end  they  all 
became  his  allies.  He  was  unable  to  shake  the  army, 
though  he  tried  repeatedly  to  create  dissatisfaction 
among  the  troops,  and  the  influence  of  the  priests 
was  minimized  by  the  fact  that  the  people  generally 
were  blindly  in  love  with  the  new  scheme  of 
self-government,  which  sounded  well  and  appealed 
strongly  to  their  sentimental  natures,  and  were  loyal 
to  Floriano. 

As  Mello's  plot  shaped  up  I  began  to  suspect  that 
•his  real  purpose  was  to  restore  Dom  Pedro  to  the 
throne  and  make  himself  the  power  behind  it.  Mello 
cared  nothing  for  titles;  it  was  his  ambition  to  be 
the  dictator  of  Brazil,  with  power  as  absolute  as  that 
which  Guzman  Blanco  had  exercised  for  many  years 
in  Venezuela.  It  was  natural  for  him  to  suppose  that 
if  he  reestablished  the  Empire  under  its  old  ruler, 
Dom  Pedro  would  be  so  grateful  to  him,  and  to  him 
alone,  that  he  would  be  thoroughly  subservient  to  his 
influence.  Later  events  confirmed  me  not  only  in  the 
belief  that  this  was  what  was  in  Mello's  mind,  but 
that  he  had  an  understanding  with  Dom  Pedro  and, 
through  him,  with  several  European  rulers,  who  were 
keenly  anxious  to  see  the  "divine  right  of  kings" 

[332] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

perpetuated  in  South  America.  Mello  considered 
that  the  dictator  to  an  Emperor  would  have  more 
power  than  the  dictator  to  a  President,  and  he  may 
have  even  dreamed  that  he  would  some  day  take  the 
throne  himself  and  establish  a  new  dynasty.  Dom 
Pedro  had  issued  a  protest  against  his  deposition  as 
soon  as  he  reached  Europe,  in  which  all  the  princes 
of  Coburg  joined,  and  was  conducting  an  active  cam- 
paign for  his  restoration.  It  is  interesting  to  note, 
in  passing,  that  there  is  still  a  pretender  to  the  throne 
of  Brazil.  When  Dom  Pedro  died  he  left  his  lost 
crown  to  Donna  Isabella,  wife  of  Count  D'Eu,  a 
Bourbon  prince.  She  passed  it  over  to  her  eldest  son, 
Peter,  when  he  became  of  age,  and  only  recently  he 
transferred  all  of  his  shadowy  rights  and  preroga- 
tives to  his  younger  brother,  Louis,  who  now  con- 
siders himself  the  rightful  ruler  of  Brazil.  The  Old 
World  has  a  way  of  keeping  up  pretenderships  that 
is  almost  as  ridiculous  as  some  of  the  revolutions  of 
the  New  World. 

It  was  amusing  to  watch  the  development  of 
Mello's  rebellion,  which  continued  through  all  of 
1892  and  the  greater  part  of  the  following  year.  One 
would  have  thought  that  two  friendly  leaders  were 
planning  rival  surprise  parties,  in  which  there  was 
to  be  nothing  more  serious  than  the  throwing  of  con- 

[333] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

fetti.  Floriano,  surrounded  by  spies  and  assassins 
but  also  by  many  loyal  and  devoted  friends,  knew  per- 
fectly well,  from  his  own  spies,  what  Mello  was 
doing,  but,  relying  on  his  own  strength  and  the  pub- 
lic sentiment  behind  him,  he  made  no  move  to  check 
him.  On  the  other  hand,  Mello  was  well  aware  that 
Floriano  knew  all  that  was  going  on,  yet  neither  one 
gave  any  outward  sign  of  this  knowledge,  and  when 
they  were  together  they  appeared  to  be  friends. 

It  was  along  in  July  or  August,  1893,  that  I  was 
delightedly  dragged  into  the  mysterious  muss,  after 
a  period  of  waiting  that  was  long,  anxious,  and  ex- 
pensive. Mello  sent  for  me  first  and  expressed  a 
wish  that  I  go  down  to  Santa  Catharina  Island,  off  the 
southern  coast  of  Brazil,  and  blow  up  the  "Repub- 
lica,"  the  one  Brazilian  warship  whose  officers  had 
remained  loyal  to  Floriano,  though  finally,  just  before 
the  revolution  was  declared,  they  went  over  to  Mello. 
With  the  exception  of  Soldanha  da  Gama,  who  was 
neutral  but  whom  he  regarded  as  more  of  a  friend 
than  an  enemy,  Mello  had  converted  the  rest  of  the 
navy  to  his  cause,  but  the  "Republica"  held  out 
against  him  and  he  wanted  her  put  out  of  the  way 
of  doing  him  harm.  He  offered  a  cash  payment  and  a 
commission  in  the  navy  in  return  for  her  destruction, 
but  I  could  never  get  him  down  to  definite  terms  or 

[334] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

to  a  contract  that  I  would  accept.  We  had  several 
conferences,  and,  while  we  were  still  negotiating,  I 
received  a  call  from  one  of  Floriano's  aides,  who 
asked  me  to  accompany  him  to  the  palace.  He  took 
me  in  the  rear  entrance  and  up  a  back  stairway  to 
Floriano's  private  sala  where,  after  presenting  me, 
he  left  me,  as  I  supposed,  alone  with  the  President. 

"I  understand,"  said  Floriano,  getting  right  down 
to  business,  "  that  you  were  in  Venezuela  with  Presi- 
dent Guzman  and  that  you  have  had  military  train- 
ing and  experience." 

"That  is  correct,  sir." 

"I  am  told,  too,  that  you  have  made  a  study  of 
high  explosives  and  have  invented  a  remarkable 
torpedo." 

"  That  also  is  true." 

"  Would  you  be  willing  to  undertake  a  mission  that 
would  involve  considerable  danger,  but  for  which  you 
would  be  well  paid  ?  " 

"I  am  open  to  anything  except  vulgar  assassina- 
tion. That  is  my  business." 

"  What  do  you  charge  for  your  services  ? " 

"  That  depends  entirely  on  the  nature  of  the  work." 

"Then  we  can  leave  that  question  open  until  the 
nature  of  the  work  has  been  decided  on,  provided  it 

[335] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

is  understood  that  your  compensation  will  be  such  as 
you  are  ordinarily  accustomed  to." 

"Very  good,  sir." 

"  Brazil  may  need  your  services,  Colonel  Boynton," 
with  an  accent  on  the  "  Colonel." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  I  interrupted,  "Captain 
Boynton." 

"I  repeat,  Colonel  Boynton,"  he  replied,  with  a 
smile  and  the  suggestion  of  a  bow.  "Brazil  may 
need  your  services,  but  I  cannot  tell  how  soon  nor 
in  what  capacity." 

"If  I  enter  your  service  it  will  be  a  loyal  service 
to  the  end,"  I  told  him. 

"  Consider  yourself  then  in  the  service  of  Brazil." 
As  he  said  this  he  raised  his  hand  and  from  behind 
a  curtain  appeared  Captain  Cochrane,  a  descendant  of 
the  English  Admiral  Cochrane  who  had  fought  for 
Brazil  seventy  years  before.  He  had  heard  all  that 
we  had  said. 

"  As  we  were  strangers  I  took  this  precaution,"  ex- 
plained Floriano.  "  It  will  not  be  necessary  again." 

"It  was  a  perfectly  justifiable  precaution,"  I  re- 
plied. 

Captain  Cochrane  then  repeated  in  English  my  con- 
versation with  the  President,  to  be  sure  I  understood 
it,  after  which  I  was  escorted  back  to  my  hotel.  Im- 

[336] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

mediately  on  my  arrival  there  I  sent  word  to  Mello 
that  our  negotiations  were  off  and  that  I  would  con- 
sider no  further  proposition  from  him. 

A  few  days  after  this  meeting  with  the  President 
the  revolution  was  declared,  under  conditions  such 
as  one  would  look  for  on  the  light  opera  stage  but 
never  in  real  life,  not  even  in  South  America.  On 
the  evening  of  September  fifth,  Floriano  went  to  the 
opera,  accompanied  by  Mello,  Soldanha  and  several 
other  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  they  all  sat 
together  in  the  presidential  box.  Mello  and  Soldanha 
excused  themselves  after  the  second  act.  They  left 
their  cloaks  in  the  box  and  said  they  would  be  back 
in  a  few  minutes.  Knowing  full  well  the  reason  for 
their  departure  and  that  they  had  no  thought  of  re- 
turning, Floriano  bowed  them  out  with  an  ironical 
excess  of  politeness.  Soldanha,  who  had  not  yet 
taken  sides,  though  his  sympathies  were  with  the 
"rebellion"  and  he  subsequently  allied  himself  with 
it,  retired  to  the  naval  school,  on  an  island  near  the 
city,  and  Mello  went  on  board  his  flagship,  the 
"Aquidaban."  During  the  night  he  assembled  his 
captains  and  impressively  gave  them  their  final 
orders,  with  the  dramatic  announcement  that  the 
standard  of  revolt  would  be  hoisted  at  sunrise.  His 
fleet,  in  addition  to  the  flagship,  consisted  of  the 

[337] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

"Guanabara,"  "Trajano,"  and  "Almirante  Taman- 
date,"  protected  cruisers;  the  "Sete  de  Setembro,"  a 
wooden  barbette  ship;  the  gunboat  "Centaur,"  and 
two  river  monitors.  The  protected  cruiser  "  Repub- 
lica,"  whose  officers  had  just  decided  to  join  the  rest 
of  the  navy  in  the  effort  to  compel  the  retirement  of 
Floriano,  was  coming  up  from  down  the  coast,  and 
the  "Riachuelo,"  with  which  Mello  had  forced  the 
abdication  of  Deodoro,  was  cruising  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean. It  was  not  an  imposing  fighting  force  but 
it  was  sufficient  to  give  Mello  command  of  the  sea, 
while  Floriano  was  in  control  of  the  forts  and  the 
land  forces. 

At  daybreak  Mello  seized  all  of  the  government 
shipping  in  the  bay  and  announced  a  blockade  of 
Rio  harbor.  He  then  sent  word  to  Floriano  that  if 
he  did  not  abdicate,  without  naming  his  successor, 
by  four  o'clock  that  afternoon,  the  city  would  be  bom- 
barded. This  threat  was  also  communicated  to  the 
foreign  ministers,  evidently  in  the  hope  that  they 
would  try  to  persuade  Floriano  to  step  out,  in  the 
interests  of  peace,  but  they  promptly  protested  to 
Mello  against  bombardment.  Under  any  circum- 
stances, they  told  him,  unless  he  proposed  to  violate 
the  international  rules  of  warfare,  he  could  not  bom- 

[338] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

bard  until  after  formal  notice  of  forty- eight  hours,  to 
allow  the  removal  of  neutrals  and  non-combatants. 

Floriano's  reply  was  an  emphatic  refusal  to  abdi- 
cate, and,  precisely  at  four  o'clock,  Mello  answered 
it  with  one  shell  from  a  three-inch  gun,  which 
exploded  near  the  American  consulate  and  killed  a 
foreigner.  During  the  next  week  Mello  fired  forty 
or  fifty  shots  into  the  city  every  day  but  they  did 
little  damage;  the  fact  that  they  apparently  were  not 
aimed  at  any  particular  spot  probably  made  no  dif- 
ference in  the  execution.  Frequently  he  would  send 
boats  ashore  for  supplies,  to  which  nobody  paid  any 
attention,  and  at  four  o'clock  every  afternoon  the 
"  Aquidaban  "  would  steam  solemnly  over  and  engage 
in  a  comic  opera  duel  with  Fort  Santa  Cruz,  which 
was  located  at  the  point  of  the  harbor  entrance  oppo- 
site Sugar  Loaf  Hill.  Mello's  shots  invariably  went 
clear  over  the  fort  or  buried  themselves  in  its  walls, 
while  the  gunners  at  the  fort  could  not  have  hit  him 
if  he  had  stood  still  for  an  hour,  so  no  damage  was 
done  to  either  side.  After  about  twenty  shots  the 
"Aquidaban"  would  return  to  her  anchorage,  slowly 
and  with  great  dignity,  and  hostilities  would  be  over 
until  the  next  day  at  the  same  hour.  This  daily  duel, 
which  was  the  star  act  in  the  serio-comic  programme, 
always  drew  a  crowd  to  the  water  front.  Business 

[339] 


went  on  as  usual  throughout  the  "  revolution,"  which 
was  regarded  with  amused  interest  rather  than  with 
fear. 

Very  soon  after  the  firing  of  the  first  shot,  Italian, 
English,  German,  Austrian,  and  Portuguese  warships 
appeared  at  Rio,  ostensibly  to  protect  the  rights  of 
their  citizens,  but  their  prompt  arrival,  made  possible 
only  by  the  fact  that  they  were  cruising  close  at 
hand,  which  was  in  itself  significant,  and  the  atti- 
tude they  assumed,  made  it  plain  to  me  that  they 
were  there  under  secret  orders  to  aid  in  the  restora- 
tion of  Dom  Pedro.  Mello  was  not  a  rebel  but  a 
pirate,  yet  the  commanders  of  these  foreign  ships, 
all  representing  monarchies,  gave  him  their  moral 
support,  and  I  have  always  believed  that  only  the 
belated  arrival  of  an  American  naval  force  prevented 
them  from  giving  him  their  active  support  as  well. 
Their  influence  was  so  strong  that  when  Rear 
Admiral  Oscar  F.  Stanton,  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  finally  reached  Rio,  he  made  the  inexcusable 
mistake  of  saluting  Mello.  For  this  he  was  speedily 
recalled,  Rear  Admiral  Gherardi  being  sent  down  to 
succeed  him.  Stanton's  excuse  was  that  he  wished 
to  maintain  a  neutral  position,  but  no  question  of 
neutrality  was  involved.  I  know  that  several  of  the 
American  naval  officers  who  arrived  later  shared  my 

[340] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

view  that  Mello  was  a  pirate  and  should  have  been 
blown  out  of  the  water  by  the  combined  fleets.  It 
was  evident,  from  the  prompt  recall  of  Stanton,  that 
the  Navy  Department  at  Washington  held  the  same 
opinion  but  had  not  sufficient  courage  in  its  convic- 
tions to  order  the  suppression  of  Mello.  The  rank- 
ing officer  of  the  combined  fleets  was  the  Italian 
Vice  Admiral,  Magnani.  The  senior  British  officer 
present  was  Captain  Lang,  of  the  "Sirius."  Until 
the  arrival  of  an  officer  of  flag  rank  Captain  Henry 
F.  Picking,  of  the  "  Charleston,"  was  the  senior  officer 
present  of  the  American  Navy,  and  next  to  him  was 
Captain  (now  Rear  Admiral,  retired)  Silas  W.  Terry, 
on  the  "Newark." 

About  a  week  after  the  firing  of  the  first  shot  I 
was  on  my  way  to  the  water  front  to  witness  the 
regular  afternoon  duel  between  the  "Aquidaban" 
and  Fort  Santa  Cruz,  when  I  was  overtaken  by  a  gov- 
ernment carriage,  and  Col.  Pimental,  whom  I  knew 
well,  asked  me  to  get  in  with  him  as  he  had  orders  for 
me  from  Floriano.  He  drove  along  the  shore  of  the 
bay  to  a  new  galvanized  building,  at  a  point  some  dis- 
tance beyond  the  island  of  the  naval  school  and  near 
the  railway  machine  shops.  On  the  way  he  explained 
that  this  building  had  been  erected  for  my  use  and 
in  it  I  was  to  construct,  as  rapidly  as  possible,  a 

[341] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

large  torpedo  with  which  to  destroy  the  "Aquida- 
ban."  I  was  to  have  whatever  I  called  for,  but,  from 
the  time  work  was  begun  on  the  torpedo  until  it  was 
finished,  I  was  to  allow  no  one  to  enter  or  leave  the 
building,  for  fear  that  word  of  what  was  being  done 
should  get  to  Mello's  spies.  The  structure  was  of 
ample  size  and  had  comfortable  living  accommoda- 
tions for  ten  men,  which  was  as  many  as  I  could  use. 
I  took  up  my  quarters  in  the  building  at  once  and 
after  drawing  on  the  master  mechanic  of  the  rail- 
road for  a  lot  of  copper  plates  and  such  other  sup- 
plies as  I  would  need,  got  right  to  work. 

Late  that  evening  I  heard  the  rumble  of  a  car- 
riage outside  and  a  moment  later  in  walked  Flor- 
iano,  with  an  old  gray  shawl  around  his  shoulders, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  Secretary  of 
Marine,  and  a  Senator.  Floriano  inquired  first  as  to 
my  comfort  and  I  assured  him  that  I  was  entirely 
satisfied.  Then  he  said :  "  I  am  relying  on  you,  Col- 
onel Boynton,  to  save  Brazil  from  further  trouble  by 
destroying  the  'Aquidaban.'  You  will  have  to  make 
and  use  your  torpedo,  with  such  help  as  we  can  give 
you.  Now  that  you  know  what  you  are  to  do,  what 
is  your  price  ?  " 

I  told  him  I  would  expect  to  be  paid  the  appraised 
value  of  the  ship  if  I  sank  her  or  put  her  out  of  com- 

[342] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

mission.  After  consulting  with  the  others  Floriano 
agreed  to  my  terms;  but  to  prevent  future  argument 
we  fixed  the  value  of  the  ship  at  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars  gold  and  a  contract  along  these  lines  was 
drawn  up  and  signed  the  next  day. 

The  torpedo  which  I  built  for  this  business  was 
the  largest  I  had  ever  made.  It  was  twelve  feet 
long  and  four  feet  in  diameter  in  the  middle,  and 
carried  more  than  five  hundred  pounds  of  dynamite, 
for  I  wanted  to  be  certain  that  the  ship  would  be  at 
least  disabled  by  her  contact  with  it.  I  paid  the  most 
careful  attention  to  the  mechanism  and,  to  prevent 
the  possibility  of  a  miss-fire,  arranged  a  double 
detonating  apparatus  which  would  explode  the  main 
charge  when  either  one  of  the  projecting  arms  was 
forced  backward  by  pressing  against  the  hull  of  the 
ship.  With  the  completion  of  the  torpedo,  which  it 
took  us  ten  days  to  build,  I  tested  it  with  five  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  of  iron  and  found  that  I  had  calcu- 
lated the  air  chamber  support  to  precisely  the  proper 
point,  for  it  floated  just  below  the  surface  of  the 
water.  Floriano  came  down  to  witness  the  final  test, 
after  a  few  leaks,  developed  by  the  first  one,  had  been 
closed,  and  handed  me  a  commission  as  Colonel  in 
the  Brazilian  Army.  He  approved  the  plan  of  cam- 

[343] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

paign  which  I  had  mapped  out  and  said  the  necessary 
orders  would  be  issued  at  once. 

"I  believe  you  will  succeed,"  were  his  parting 
words.  "I  hope  you  will  come  back  as  General 
Boynton." 

To  the  south  of  Rio  Bay,  which  is  the  main  harbor, 
and  within  the  city  itself,  lies  the  little  Bay  of  Bota- 
fogo,  round  like  an  apple  and  with  a  narrow  entrance. 
On  the  north  side  of  the  harbor  and  cut  off  from  it 
by  a  long,  low  peninsula  which  ends  in  a  high  prom- 
ontory, is  Nictheroy  Bay.  This  peninsula,  which 
is  so  low  for  a  considerable  distance  back  of  its  ter- 
minating eminence  that  it  is  covered  by  water  at  high 
tide,  when  it  is  crossed  by  a  bridge,  lies  west  of  the 
Fort  of  Santa  Cruz.  Mello's  fleet  was  anchored  off 
the  peninsula,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  harbor  from 
the  city.  While  Mello  had  seized  all  of  the  govern- 
ment vessels  in  the  harbor  there  were  a  few  tugs  left, 
which,  to  prevent  his  interference,  were  flying  the 
British  flag,  on  the  pretence  that  they  were  owned  by 
Englishmen.  I  was  to  be  given  one  of  these  tugs 
and  my  plan  was  to  steal  around  into  Nictheroy 
Bay  at  night  and  anchor  close  under  the  hill  at  the 
end  of  the  peninsula,  where  I  would  be  hidden  from 
the  rebel  fleet.  In  the  morning  I  would  load  the  tor- 
pedo and  wait  for  the  daily  exchange  of  cannon  cour- 

[344] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

tesies  between  the  "Aquidaban"  and  the  fort.  An 
officer  at  Santa  Cruz  was  to  signal  me  when  Mello 
left  his  anchorage  and  then,  towing  the  submerged 
torpedo  by  a  wire  rope  too  small  to  be  detected,  I 
would  steam  out  from  behind  the  sheltering  promon- 
tory and  head  for  Botafogo  Bay.  This  would  carry 
me  directly  across  the  course  of  the  "  Aquidaban," 
which  would  pick  up  the  towing  line  on  her  bow, 
drag  the  torpedo  alongside  of  her,  and,  as  I  expected 
and  hoped,  be  destroyed  by  the  explosion  which 
would  ensue  when  one  of  its  long  arms  came  in  con- 
tact with  her  hull. 

The  line  by  which  the  torpedo  was  to  be  towed  was 
two  thousand  feet  long  and  was  supported  at  inter- 
vals by  little  floats  that  were  painted  the  color  of 
the  water.  This  gave  me  room  to  keep  well  clear  of 
the  "  Aquidaban,"  and  I  did  not  think  Mello  would 
see  anything  suspicious  in  an  insignificant  little  tow- 
boat,  under  the  British  flag,  running  diagonally 
across  his  bow  at  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 
This  was  the  only  plan  which  gave  promise  of  suc- 
cess, for  it  was  impossible  for  an  unknown  craft  of 
any  kind  to  get  close  to  the  "Aquidaban"  while 
she  was  at  anchor,  and  there  never  has  been  any 
doubt  in  my  mind  that  it  would  have  worked  per- 
fectly but  for  the  fact  that  Mello  had  full  knowledge 

[345] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

of  our  movements  and  our  plans.  Our  operations  had 
been  conducted  with  such  extreme  secrecy  that  we 
had  no  suspicion  that  they  were  known  to  any  one  but 
Floriano  and  his  most  trusted  advisers  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  Mello's  spies  in  high  places  had  kept 
him  constantly  advised  as  to  what  we  were  doing  and 
when  we  intended  to  strike.  To  show  his  high 
regard  for  the  foreign  fleet  of  royalty  he  reported  us 
to  the  British  naval  commander  and  we  were  cap- 
tured in  humiliating  fashion,  while  the  "Aquida- 
ban"  remained  safely  at  her  anchorage.  Mello 
expected  that  I  would  be  turned  over  to  him  and  that 
he  would  have  the  satisfaction  of  ordering  my  execu- 
tion, but  in  that  he  was  disappointed. 

My  tug,  in  charge  of  a  French  engineer  and  four 
Brazilians,  was  sent  down  to  me  on  the  afternoon  of 
September  25,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  dark,  with  the 
torpedo  covered  with  canvas  on  deck  and  twelve  fifty- 
pound  boxes  of  dynamite  in  the  pilot  house,  we 
steamed  around  in  Nictheroy  Bay,  hugging  the 
shore  all  of  the  way.  To  have  loaded  the  torpedo 
before  we  started  on  the  necessarily  hazardous  trip 
would  have  been  extremely  dangerous,  for  any  acci- 
dental pressure  on  one  of  its  arms  would  have  blown 
all  of  us  to  pieces.  We  anchored  in  the  lee  of  the 
peninsular  promontory,  well  out  of  sight  of  the  rebel 

[346] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

fleet,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  daylight  I  unscrewed  the 
manhole  of  the  torpedo  and  proceeded  to  pack  it  full 
of  dynamite.  All  of  the  men  were  either  helping  me 
or  intently  watching  the  novel  proceeding,  for  we 
were  not  expecting  visitors.  I  was  just  putting  in 
the  last  box  of  the  explosive  when  there  was  a  shrill 
whistle  and  a  launch  from  the  "Sirius"  swung 
alongside.  The  lieutenant  in  charge  of  our  unbid- 
den and  most  unwelcome  guest  jumped  aboard  of 
us  and  came  aft  before  I  could  brush  the  dynamite 
from  my  arms. 

"  Who  commands  this  craft  ? "  he  demanded. 

"  I  do,"  I  replied. 

"  What  are  you  doing  with  that  flag  up  there  ? " 
pointing  to  the  British  ensign. 

"  That  flag  was  there  when  I  came  aboard  and  took 
command,"  which  was  true.  Then,  seeing  that  he 
thought  I  was  trying  to  evade  the  question,  I  added: 
"  I  am  flying  it  for  protection  from  a  pirate  fleet,  just 
as  others  are  displaying  it  in  Rio  Bay  and  in  the 
city.  Your  commanding  officer  has  sanctioned  that 
custom  by  his  silence.  I  am  an  officer  of  the  estab- 
lished Brazilian  Government,  obeying  the  orders  of 
my  superiors  in  Brazilian  waters,  and  I  claim  the 
right  to  take  advantage  of  that  custom,  if  I  care  to 
do  so,  just  as  others  have  done  and  are  doing." 

[347] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

"I  think  the  other  cases  are  different  from  yours," 
replied  the  lieutenant.  "What  is  that?"  pointing 
to  the  dynamite. 

"  Examine  it  for  yourself." 

"  It  looks  like  dynamite." 

"Probably." 

"Well,  sir,  I  am  ordered  by  Captain  Lang  to  take 
you  on  board  Her  Majesty's  ship  "  Sirius." 

It  was  of  no  use  to  make  a  fight  so  I  accompanied 
him,  with  excessive  and  sarcastic  politeness.  He 
took  all  of  my  crew  with  him,  leaving  a  guard  on  the 
tug.  Captain  Lang  was  on  deck  waiting  for  me  and 
was  quite  agitated  when  I  was  brought  before  him, 
but  he  was  much  more  heated  before  we  parted  com- 
pany, and  it  was  a  warm  day  to  begin  with. 

"  Captain  Boynton,  what  does  this  mean  ? "  he 
roared  at  me. 

"  What  does  what  mean  ? "  I  innocently  inquired. 

"Your  lying  over  there  in  a  vessel  loaded  with 
munitions  of  war  and  flying  the  British  flag  ?  " 

"  It  means  simply  that  I  am  an  officer  in  the  Brazil- 
ian Army,  on  duty  under  the  guns  of  a  rebel  fleet,  and 
that  I  am  flying  the  British  flag  for  whatever  virtue 
it  might  have  in  protecting  me  from  that  pirate, 
Admiral  Mello.  That  flag  has  been  used  as  a  protec- 

[348] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

tion  by  many  others  and  you  have  silently  acquiesced 
in  such  use  of  it." 

"  But,  sir,  are  you  not  aware  that  this  is  piracy  ?  " 

"I  am  not  aware,  sir,  that  it  is  any  such  thing." 

"But  I  tell  you  that  it  is  piracy  to  fly  the  British 
flag  over  the  ship  of  another  nation  and  carrying 
munitions  of  war." 

"It  might  be  just  as  well,  Captain  Lang,  for  you 
to  remember  that  you  are  not  now  on  the  high  seas. 
An  act  of  the  British  Parliament  is  of  no  effect  within 
another  country,  and  if  you  will  consult  your  chart 
you  will  find  that  we  are  in  the  enclosed  waters  of 
Brazil.  Under  such  conditions  no  mandate  of  yours 
which  affects  my  rights  can  be  enforced,  unless  you 
have  the  nerve  to  take  the  chances  that  go  with  your 
act." 

"You  may  soon  find  to  the  contrary,"  shouted  the 
captain,  who  was  letting  his  temper  get  the  best  of 
him.  "I  have  a  mind  to  send  you  to  Admiral  Mello 
as  a  prisoner.  You  know  what  he  would  do  to  you." 

"Oh,  Captain  Lang,"  I  said  jeeringly,  "you  know 
you  wouldn't  do  that." 

"  And  pray  why  not,  sir  ?  " 

"Because  you  dare  not  do  it,  and  that's  why,"  I 
told  him,  as  I  pointed  at  the  "Charleston"  which, 
with  her  decks  cleared  for  action,  was  anchored  only 

[349] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

a  few  hundred  yards  off  to  port.  "  I  dare  you  to  do  it. 
I  defy  you  to  do  it.  Send  me  aboard  the  '  Aquidaban ' 
if  you  dare."  I  was  making  a  strong  bluff  and  I  got 
away  with  it.  The  outraged  Britisher  swelled  up 
with  anger  and  turned  almost  purple,  but  he  did  not 
reply  to  my  taunt.  Instead,  he  summoned  the  mas- 
ter at  arms  and  placed  me  in  his  charge,  ordered  his 
launch,  and  dashed  off  to  the  "  Charleston."  He 
returned  in  half  an  hour  and,  without  another  word 
to  me,  ordered  a  lieutenant  to  take  me  aboard  the 
"  Charleston." 

I  will  not  deny  that  I  was  a  bit  easier  in  my  mind 
when  I  saw  my  own  flag  flying  over  me,  yet  had  I 
known  the  treatment  I  was  to  receive  under  it,  I 
would  have  felt  quite  differently. 

It  was  easy  to  see,  from  the  reception  which  Cap- 
tain Picking  gave  me,  that  he  had  been  influenced 
by  the  attitude  of  Captain  Lang,  for  he  took  about 
the  same  view  of  my  action.  I  told  him  that  I  was 
an  American  citizen,  temporarily  in  the  employment 
of  the  Brazilian  Government,  as  were  several  other 
Americans  who  loved  fighting  and  excitement;  that 
I  had  violated  no  law  of  the  United  States  or  of 
Brazil,  and  I  demanded  that  I  be  set  ashore.  He 
coldly  informed  me  that  I  would  be  confined  to  the 
ship,  at  least  until  he  had  consulted  with  the  Ameri- 

[350] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

can  Minister  and  communicated  with  Washington. 
Not  only  did  Picking  regard  Meilo  as  a  rebel  rather 
than  a  pirate  but  he  went  even  farther  and  recog- 
nized him  as  a  belligerent,  which  meant  that  he  was 
entitled  to  all  the  rights  of  war.  This  opinion  was 
shaped,  undoubtedly,  by  the  royalist  commanders  in 
the  harbor,  whose  superior  rank  seemed  to  have  a 
hypnotic  effect  on  Picking,  and  their  influence  over 
him  was  so  strong  that  soon  after  I  arrived  on  the 
"Charleston"  I  was  confined  to  my  room,  as  a  dan- 
gerous character  and  a  man  who  threatened  the 
peace  of  nations.  With  this  decidedly  unpleasant 
recollection,  however,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  know  that 
the  other  American  naval  officers,  who  arrived  later, 
took  exactly  my  view  of  the  whole  situation  and 
became  champions  of  my  cause.  They  told  Picking 
that  Mello  was  a  pirate  and  should  be  treated  as 
such,  and  that  I  was  being  deprived  of  my  liberty 
without  the  slightest  warrant  of  law,  but  they  were 
powerless  to  accomplish  my  release,  as  Picking  was 
in  command,  as  the  senior  officer  present,  and  all 
of  the  correspondence  with  Washington  was  con- 
ducted through  him.  Captain  Terry,  though  he  never 
had  met  me  and  could  not  be  charged  with  having 
his  opinion  biassed  by  any  personal  relation,  was 
especially  vigorous  in  urging  that  I  be  released  and 

[351] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

that  Mello's  farcical  revolution  be  suppressed  with- 
out further  ceremony.  He  denounced  my  detention 
as  a  disgrace  to  the  American  Navy  and  though  he 
and  Picking  had  been  bosom  friends  up  to  that  time, 
a  coolness  developed  between  them,  on  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  I  was  treated,  that  continued 
until  Picking's  death,  years  later. 

The  manner  in  which  that  old  tighter,  Rear 
Admiral  Benham,  put  an  end  to  the  "revolution"  in 
the  following  January,  soon  after  his  arrival  at  Rio, 
should  be  well  remembered,  for  it  was  a  noble  deed 
and  an  example  of  the  good  judgment  generally  dis- 
played by  American  naval  officers  when  they  are  not 
hampered  by  foolish  orders  from  Washington.  Ijn 
the  vain  hope  of  arousing  enthusiasm  in  his  lost 
cause,  Mello  had  gone  down  the  coast,  where  he  fig- 
uratively and  literally  took  to  the  woods  when  he 
saw  the  folly  of  his  mission,  leaving  Da  Gama  in  com- 
mand of  the  blockading  fleet.  The  captains  of  several 
American  merchant  ships,  who  had  been  prevented 
for  weeks  from  landing  their  cargoes  for  Rio,  ap- 
pealed to  Admiral  Benham  who  took  prompt  action. 
To  show  his  contempt  for  the  rebels,  whom  he  prop- 
erly regarded  as  pirates,  making  no  secret  of  the  fact, 
Admiral  Benham  assigned  the  smallest  ship  in  his 
squadron,  the  little  "Detroit,"  commanded  by  that 

[352] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

great  little  man,  Commander  (now  Rear  Admiral,  re- 
tired) W.  H.  Brownson,  to  escort  the  merchantmen 
up  to  the  docks.  At  the  same  time  he  warned  Da 
Gama  not  to  carry  out  his  threat  to  fire  on  them  when 
they  crossed  his  line.  With  his  ship  cleared  for  ac- 
tion, as  were  the  "  San  Francisco,"  "  New  York," 
"  Charleston,"  and  "  Newark,"  which  stood  guard  over 
the  rebel  fleet,  at  a  considerable  distance,  Brownson 
stood  in  alongside  one  of  the  merchantmen.  He 
steamed  over  close  to  the  "  Trajano,"  on  which  Da 
Gama's  flag  was  flying,  and  which,  with  the  "  Guana- 
bara,"  was  guarding  the  shore. 

"I  will  recognize  no  accidental  shots,"  shouted 
Brownson  to  the  rebel  admiral,  "  so  don't  fire  any. 
If  you  open  fire  I  will  respond,  and  if  you  reply  to 
that  I  will  sink  you." 

As  the  merchant  ship  came  in  line  the  "Trajano" 
fired  a  shot  across  her  bow.  Brownson  replied 
instantly  with  a  six-pound  shell  which  exploded  so 
close  to  the  "  Trajano "  that  it  threw  water  on  her 
forward  deck.  A  musket  shot  was  fired  from  the 
"  Guanabara,"  and  it  was  answered  and  silenced  with 
a  bullet  from  the  "Detroit." 

After  seeing  his  charge  safely  tied  up  to  the  dock 
Brownson  circled  contemptuously  around  the  "Tra- 
jano" and  ordered  a  marine  to  send  a  rifle  shot  into 

[353] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

her  sternpost,  as  an  evidence  of  his  esteem  for  her 
commander.  The  discomfited  Da  Gama,  who  was 
looking  for  some  excuse  to  end  his  hopeless  revolt, 
fell  over  himself  getting  into  his  launch,  raced  over 
to  the  "Detroit"  and  tendered  his  sword  to  Brown- 
son.  Brownson  told  him  he  had  not  demanded  his 
surrender,  as  he  seemed  to  think,  and  could  not 
accept  it,  but  that  he  must  keep  his  hands  off  Ameri- 
can shipping  if  he  wished  to  continue  his  mortal  exis- 
tence. The  "revolution"  ended  right  there,  but 
unfortunately  I  was  not  present  to  witness  its  col- 
lapse. The  august  naval  authorities  were  scandalized 
when  this  display  of  good  sense  was  reported  to 
them  and  they  carefully  prepared  a  message  of  cen- 
sure to  Benham  for  permitting  such  conduct,  but 
before  it  was  despatched  the  New  York  morning 
newspapers  reached  Washington  —  and  after  a  peru- 
sal of  their  enthusiastic  editorials  on  the  subject  a 
message  of  commendation  was  sent  to  him  instead. 
During  my  confinement  on  the  "Charleston"  I 
was  occasionally  allowed  on  deck  for  exercise,  but  I 
had  no  other  diversion,  which  really  was  an  aggrava- 
tion, than  to  watch  the  intermittent  bombardment  of 
the  city  and  the  regularly  scheduled  exchange  of 
shots  between  the  rebel  fleet  and  the  forts.  In  hope 
of  meeting  with  greater  success  Mello  would  some- 

[354] 


RAPID-FIRE  REVOLTS 

times  engage  the  forts  with  several  of  his  ships  and, 
as  time  wore  on,  there  was  some  improvement  in 
the  marksmanship  on  both  sides,  though  nothing  like 
reasonable  accuracy  was  ever  attained.  The  only 
incident  which  was  at  all  exciting  was  the  sinking  of 
the  "Javary,"  one  of  Mello's  monitors.  A  shell  from 
Fort  Sao  Joao  dropped  between  her  turrets  and  as 
she  heeled  over  from  the  explosion  an  accidental 
shot  from  Fort  Santa  Cruz  struck  her  below  the 
water  line.  She  went  down  by  the  stern  with  a  rush. 
The  guns  in  her  forward  turret  were  pointed  toward 
the  town  and  they  were  fired,  in  a  spirit  of  sheer 
bravado,  just  as  she  disappeared.  Mello  threw  a  few 
shells  into  the  city  every  day,  as  evidence  that  he 
was  still  in  rebellion,  but  I  was  told  that  less  than 
half  a  dozen  of  them  did  any  damage  and  they  cer- 
tainly produced  little  excitement.  Soldanha  da  Gama 
came  out  in  the  open  and  joined  forces  with  Mello 
while  I  was  on  the  "Charleston." 

I  was  not  allowed  to  communicate  with  any  one  on 
shore,  and,  except  from  hearsay,  Floriano  had  no 
means  of  knowing  whether  I  was  alive  or  dead.  Cap- 
tain Picking  claimed  to  have  been  told  by  a  church 
dignitary,  who,  of  course,  was  a  friend  of  Mello,  that 
it  would  be  unsafe  to  set  me  ashore  as  I  was  certain 
to  be  assassinated  by  Mello  sympathizers,  but  that 

[355] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

doubtless  was  a  subterfuge  by  which  he  sought  to 
justify  his  position.  After  I  had  been  subjected  to 
this  outrageous  treatment  for  two  months  —  from 
September  26  to  November  26 —  I  was  suddenly 
and  without  any  explanation  transferred  to  the 
"Detroit,"  which  immediately  put  to  sea.  Off  Cape 
Frio  we  met  another  "Sirius,"  a  Lamport  &  Holt 
liner  bound  for  New  York,  and,  in  charge  of  Ensign 
Jas.  F.  Carter,  I  was  transferred  to  her.  We  reached 
New  York  on  December  19,  1893,  and  I  was  taken 
to  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard.  An  hour  after  my  arri- 
val a  message  was  received  from  Washington  order- 
ing my  release.  The  Navy  Department  had  me  on 
its  hands,  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  me,  and 
finally,  in  line  with  the  vacillating  policy  then  in 
vogue,  took  that  cowardly  method  of  getting  me 
away  from  the  danger  zone.  Adhering  to  my  rule  of 
never  talking  about  myself  or  my  troubles  I  made  no 
complaint,  but  I  have  always  considered  that  my 
treatment  was  a  disgrace,  and  most  of  the  naval 
officers  who  were  in  Rio  at  the  same  time  will  bear 
me  out  in  that  statement.  It  was  the  sort  of  treat- 
ment one  might  expect  in  an  absolute  monarchy  but 
not  in  a  republic,  with  all  of  its  false  boasts  about  the 
freedom  of  the  citizen  and  protection  of  his  rights. 

[356] 


CHAPTER   XV 
REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

OTWITHSTANDING  the  discouragement  I 
had  met  with  in  Brazil,  and  the  manner  in 
which  I  had  been  deprived  of  a  fresh  fortune  and 
much  excitement  by  the  discovery  of  my  plan  to  send 
Admiral  Mello  and  his  rebel  flagship  skyward  with 
a  beautiful  torpedo  of  my  own  invention  and  con- 
struction, the  passion  for  adventure  was  still  strong 
within  me,  but  I  was  unable  to  gratify  it  with 
the  resources  then  at  my  command.  My  finances, 
already  considerably  crimped  by  my  extravagant  way 
of  living  and  several  unprofitable  years,  had  been 
still  further  depleted  by  my  long  and  idle  stay  at 
Rio  Janeiro,  while  waiting  for  the  Mello  insurrec- 
tion to  become  an  actuality,  and  I  felt  it  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  assure  myself  of  an  income  until  some- 
thing opened  up  that  would  be  more  exciting  than 
working  for  a  living. 

Therefore,  soon  after  my  prompt  release  from  the 
Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,  just  before  Christmas  in  1893, 
after  my  outrageous  treatment  at  the  hands  of  Cap- 
tain Picking  and  the  Navy  Department,  I  engaged 

[357] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

with  the  Maxim  Powder  &  Torpedo  Company  to 
travel  through  Central  and  South  America  and  the 
West  Indies  and  sell  munitions  of  war  to  govern- 
ments, or  to  any  one  who  had  the  necessary  cash  or 
could  furnish  reasonable  security.  But  before  set- 
ting forth  I  organized,  with  several  of  my  friends, 
the  International  Export  &  Trading  Company. 
Through  this  concern  it  was  proposed  to  arm  and 
finance  any  promising  revolution  I  might  encounter 
whose  leaders  would  guarantee,  in  the  event  of  suc- 
cess, to  pay  us  anywhere  from  three  to  ten  times  the 
amount  of  money  we  had  actually  invested  in  the 
enterprise,  and  give  us  valuable  concessions  besides. 
No  get-rich-quick  scheme  that  was  ever  devised 
equals  the  financing  of  a  revolution,  when  it  succeeds 
and  is  honestly  managed.  The  experience  tables  of 
the  turbid  tropics  prove  that  the  chances  are  some- 
what against  the  success  of  these  outbursts  of  pred- 
atory patriotism,  but  the  prospects  of  failure  are 
amply  discounted  by  the  exorbitant  terms  of  the  con- 
tract; the  great  trouble  is  that  they  generally  are  in 
charge  of  men  who  have  no  more  respect  for  a  writ- 
ten agreement  than  for  a  moral  obligation.  The  man 
who  bets  at  random  on  the  honesty  of  revolutionary 
leaders  in  Latin  America,  no  matter  how  sincere  their 
promises  nor  what  odds  they  offer,  stands  a  much 

[358] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

better  chance  of  winning  from  a  faro  game  operated 
with  a  two-card  box,  but  as  I  had  a  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  or  knowledge  of  most  of  the  disturbing 
elements  in  those  days,  and  knew  how  far  they  could 
ordinarily  be  trusted,  I  thought  I  might  run  across 
one  or  two  with  whom  it  would  be  safe  to  do  busi- 
ness. In  case  any  such  ambitious  ones  were  found  I 
intended  to  become  an  active  participant  in  the  pro- 
ceedings, as  a  sort  of  guarantee  of  good  faith  and  to 
increase  my  interest  in  them. 

Determined  to  tackle  the  hardest  proposition  first, 
I  boarded  an  Atlas  liner  for  Hayti,  where  old  Flor- 
ville  Hippolyte  was  at  the  zenith  of  his  power.  I 
knew  that  while  I  had  been  smuggling  Chinamen  into 
Australia,  General  Legitime,  whom  I  had  accompanied 
into  exile  at  Jamaica  when  President  Salomon 
deported  him  for  plotting  against  the  government,  at 
the  same  time  that  he  conveyed  to  me  a  broad  hint 
to  leave  the  country  without  a  delay  of  more  than 
a  few  hours,  had  returned  to  the  island  in  1888,  after 
an  absence  of  more  than  three  years,  and  had  led  a 
temporarily  successful  revolt  through  which  he  had 
himself  elected  President  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment, in  succession  to  the  man  who  had  exiled  him. 
Gen.  Seide  Thelemaque  promptly  organized  an  oppos- 
ing government  at  Cape  Haitien,  with  Gen.  Hippolyte 

[359] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

at  the  head  of  it.  Thelemaque  was  soon  afterward 
killed  in  battle  but  Hippolyte  continued  the  revolu- 
tion. Through  its  navy  the  United  States  gave  him 
its  "moral  support,"  which  is  a  powerful  thing  when 
intelligently  directed,  and  within  a  year  from  the 
time  he  landed  in  Hayti  to  lead  his  little  rebellion, 
Legitime  was  compelled  to  again  return  ingloriously 
to  his  haven  in  Jamaica.  Two  months  later,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1889,  Hippolyte  was  formally  elected  President 
and  he  continued  in  power  until  he  died  on  horseback, 
at  the  head  of  his  army,  near  Port  au  Prince,  in  the 
Spring  of  1896. 

Because  of  my  affiliation  with  Legitime,  whom  I 
had  mistakenly  picked  out  as  the  coming  man  in 
Hayti,  Hippolyte  and  I  had  quarrelled  just  before 
Legitime  and  I  were  ordered  from  the  country;  but 
that  had  been  years  before,  and  I  deluded  myself  with 
the  belief  that,  if  he  had  not  forgotten  the  affair,  it 
had  been  forgiven,  for  there  is  supposed  to  be  some 
sort  of  honor  even  among  soldiers  of  fortune  and  the 
men  with  whom,  at  different  times  and  under  vary- 
ing conditions,  they  ally  themselves.  The  lovers  of 
liberty,  and  lucre,  who  command  insurrections  are 
out  chiefly  for  what  there  is  in  it  for  themselves, 
while  the  simple  soldiers  of  fortune,  like  myself,  are 
in  the  game  mainly  for  the  excitement  and  amuse- 

[360] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

ment  of  conflict.  It  is  against  the  ethics  of  the 
profession  of  promoting  trouble  for  the  members  of 
one  faction  to  cherish  grudges  against  the  other, 
except  perhaps  under  conditions  involving  personal 
honor,  and  that  is  not  often  at  stake.  However, 
I  soon  learned  that  Hippolyte,  who  was  essentially 
a  savage  with  a  lot  of  uncultured  cunning,  was  no 
believer  in  the  unwritten  revolutionary  rules. 

The  steamer  reached  Port  au  Prince  in  the  morn- 
ing and  I  went  to  the  Hotel  Bellevue,  which  faced 
the  park,  directly  opposite  the  presidential  palace. 
I  had  just  finished  breakfast  when  an  American  quad- 
roon named  Belford,  who  boasted  the  proud  title  of 
Admiral  of  the  Haytian  Navy  and  with  whom  I  had 
become  well  acquainted  during  my  previous  visit, 
entered  the  hotel.  He  recognized  me  instantly  and 
after  an  exchange  of  greetings  and  some  random 
remarks  about  the  old  days,  he  wanted  to  know  what 
I  was  doing  there.  I  handed  him  my  card,  showing 
that  I  was  the  representative  of  the  Maxim  Powder 
&  Torpedo  Co. 

"  But  what  is  your  real  business  ? "  he  inquired 
with  a  smile. 

"The  card  states  it  correctly." 

"  How  long  are  you  going  to  stay  ?  " 
[361] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

"  At  least  long  enough  to  sell  old  Hippolyte  a  good 
bill  of  goods,  I  hope." 

"  You  are  not  going  to  see  the  old  man  himself  ? " 
he  incredulously  inquired. 

"Surely.    I  hope  to  see  him  to-day." 

"You'd  better  be  careful,  Boynton.  He  remem- 
bers you  in  a  way  that  is  likely  to  make  trouble  for 
you." 

"He  ought  to  have  forgotten  all  about  our  little 
difference  by  this  time,  or  at  least  he  should  not  har- 
bor hatred  of  me." 

"The  old  man  has  a  long  memory.  He  never  for- 
gets and  I  never  have  known*  him  to  forgive." 

I  laughed  at  his  friendly  anxiety  but  he  continued 
in  the  same  strain.  While  we  were  talking  we  saw 
a  young  officer  coming  up  the  path  to  the  hotel. 
"Here  comes  one  of  the  old  man's  aides,"  said  Bel- 
ford.  "He's  after  you  already." 

I  told  him  it  was  impossible,  for  I  had  been  in  town 
only  a  few  hours,  but  he  insisted  he  was  right  and 
quickly  left  me  so  we  should  not  be  found  together. 
I  stepped  into  a  side  room  where  the  young  officer 
came  up  to  see  me  in  a  few  minutes,  guided  by  the 
hotel  proprietor. 

"  This  is  Captain  Boynton  ?  "  he  said,  with  more  of 
declaration  than  inquiry. 

[362] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

"At  your  service,  sir." 

"President  Hippolyte  requests  you  to  call  on  him 
at  three  o'clock  this  afternoon." 

"Present  my  compliments  to  the  President  and 
tell  him  I  will  be  at  the  palace  at  that  hour,"  I  replied. 

Belford  rejoined  me  when  the  aide  was  out  of 
sight.  He  said  he  did  not  like  the  looks  of  things 
and  advised  me  to  go  back  on  board  the  steamer, 
which  was  still  in  the  harbor.  I  told  him  I  thought 
he  was  unnecessarily  alarmed,  but  that  anyway  I 
had  come  to  Hayti  as  an  American  citizen  on  legiti- 
mate business,  and  I  proposed  to  stay  until  it  had 
been  transacted. 

In  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  I  donned  full  even- 
ing dress,  according  to  the  court  requirement,  and 
presented  myself  at  the  palace,  where  I  was  at  once 
ushered  into  Hippolyte's  private  reception  room. 

"  What  brings  you  here,  Captain  Boynton  ? "  was 
the  sharp  salutation  of  the  old  black  butcher. 

"I  am  selling  munitions  of  war,"  I  replied,  and 
handed  him  my  card. 

"  Is  that  all  ? "  he  asked,  with  a  look  as  keen  as  a 
razor  and  in  a  voice  almost  as  cutting. 

"That  is  all." 

With  this  assurance,  which  seemed  to  carry  con- 
[363] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

viction,  Hippolyte  relaxed  considerably  and  shook 
hands  with  me. 

"  I  want  to  sell  you  some  smokeless  powder,"  I  told 
him.  "It  is  the  latest  thing  and  is  a  great  aid  to 
annihilation." 

"Don't  want  it,"  was  his  brusque  response. 

"It  is  almost  noiseless,  as  well,"  I  urged.  "With 
its  use  an  enemy  would  find  it  difficult  to  locate 
your  troops." 

"That  is  worse  yet,"  he  said,  with  as  much  of  a 
smile  as  his  ugly  face  was  acquainted  with.  "  We 
want  powder  that  will  make  much  smoke  and  lots  of 
noise." 

I  told  him  I  had  that  kind  too,  and  other  things 
which  he  ought  to  have. 

"Well,"  he  said,  with  a  suggestion  of  impatience, 
"go  to  the  Minister  of  War  and  get  your  order,  and 
then  get  out.  Where  are  you  going  from  here  ?  " 

"To  Santo  Domingo." 

"Good.  I'll  help  you.  The  'Toussaint  1'Ouver- 
ture '  [a  little  gunboat  named  for  the  negro  Napoleon 
of  Hayti]  will  take  you  there  when  you  are  ready. 
You  must  be  prepared  to  sail  within  a  week." 

"  Why  all  this  hurry  ? "  I  inquired  in  great  sur- 
prise. "It  has  been  years  since  I  was  in  Port  au 
Prince  and  I  want  to  revisit  old  familiar  places  and 

[364] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

renew  acquaintance  with  old  friends,  if  there  are 
any  left."  I  might  have  added  that  I  disputed  his 
right  to  prescribe  the  length  of  my  stay,  but  I  did 
not  wish  to  provoke  a  row  with  the  old  fellow,  at 
that  time. 

He  almost  beamed  on  me  as  he  replied,  "I  like 
you,  Captain,  but  I  don't  want  you  in  Hayti.  You 
can  stay  just  one  week." 

I  told  him  I  earnestly  hoped  he  would  extend  the 
time  limit  and  left  him,  backing  out,  if  you  please. 
I  went  direct  to  the  Minister  of  War,  who  made  out 
a  memorandum  covering  a  large  consignment  of 
fighting  materials  and  said  he  would  send  the  offi- 
cial order  to  my  hotel,  which  he  did.  Soon  after  my 
return  to  the  hotel  I  was  introduced  to  Freeman  Hal- 
stead,  the  correspondent  of  a  great  New  York  news- 
paper, who  had  been  in  Hayti  for  some  time.  I  had 
noticed  him  talking  with  the  proprietor  that  morning, 
when  Hippolyte's  aide  came  to  the  hotel  in  search 
of  me.  In  the  interval  he  had  cabled  his  paper  that 
I  was  in  Hayti  and  had  received  reply,  he  said,  to 
"stick  to  Boynton  until  further  orders."  I  told  him 
I  had  no  news  and  did  not  expect  to  make  any,  but 
he  declared  that  he  would  stand  by  to  see  what  hap- 
pened. He  said  he  was  on  an  intimate  footing  with 

[365] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

Hippolyte  and  suggested  that  he  might  be  able  to 
help  me. 

During  the  evening  I  received  a  call  from  an  old 
German  acquaintance,  named  Hefferman,  and  at  his 
invitation  I  accompanied  him  to  his  home.  His  wife 
necessarily  was  a  native  negress  for,  on  account  of 
the  stringent  anti-foreign  law,  all  of  his  property 
stood  in  her  name.  He  confided  to  me  the  fact  that 
he  was  the  agent  for  Gen.  Mannigat,  another  would- 
be  revolutionary  leader  who  was  in  exile  at  Jamaica, 
and  that  with  the  aid  of  a  French  woman,  known  as 
Natalie,  of  whom  Hippolyte  was  greatly  enamoured, 
he  had  just  formulated  a  plan  to  kidnap  the  Presi- 
dent. His  scheme  was  to  have  Natalie  give  Hip- 
polyte some  drugged  wine  and,  while  he  was  uncon- 
scious, put  him  in  a  box  and  bundle  him  off  to  a 
waiting  sailing  ship  which  would  proceed  to  Jamaica, 
where  the  deposed  and  dopey  President  would  be 
turned  over  to  Mannigat,  who  could  make  such  terms 
with  him  as  he  desired.  To  the  mind  of  my  German 
friend  this  would  establish  a  new  standard  in  revolu- 
tions and  he  wanted  me  to  share  in  his  glory,  in 
return  for  my  assistance.  I  complimented  him  on 
his  idea  of  stealing  a  President,  which,  under  such 
conditions  as  he  described,  might  be  accomplished, 
but  pointed  out  that  to  make  his  coup  successful  he 

[366] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

must  have  Mannigat  on  the  ground  with  a  force  suf- 
ficiently large  to  seize  and  hold  the  government  when 
Hippolyte  was  removed;  that  unless  this  was  done 
both  of  them  would  be  frozen  out  by  some  cockaded 
criminal  who  was  waiting  for  just  such  an  oppor- 
tunity. I  told  him  if  the  conditions  which  I  had 
stipulated  could  be  complied  with  I  would  be  glad  to 
finance  and  equip  the  revolt,  subject  to  satisfactory 
guarantees,  but  that  as  it  stood  I  could  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it. 

It  was  late  when  we  finished  our  talk  and  I  made 
the  mistake  of  spending  the  night  with  Hefferman 
who,  as  it  turned  out,  was  vaguely  suspected  of 
being  disloyal  to  Hippolyte,  or  at  least  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  him,  though  there  was  no  notion  that  he 
was  Mannigat's  confidential  agent.  As  a  result  of 
my  long  visit  to  the  German,  the  mistaken  suspicion 
was  created  that  I  had  come  to  Hayti  to  plot  against 
the  President  and  was  trying  to  draw  Hefferman 
into  my  plans.  This  suspicion  soon  became  appar- 
ent. Halstead  and  Belford  told  me  there  was  no 
doubt,  from  what  they  had  heard  at  the  palace  and 
elsewhere,  that  Hippolyte  thought  I  had  lied  to  him 
and  believed  I  was  there  to  make  trouble  for  him. 
On  the  sixth  day  after  my  arrival  Belford  told  me 
he  was  to  take  me  on  the  "  Toussaint "  the  next  day, 

[367] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

ostensibly  to  convey  me  to  Santo  Domingo,  but  that 
he  had  secret  orders,  from  Hippolyte  himself,  to  see 
to  it  that  I  "  fell  overboard  "  well  out  at  sea  and  was 
not  rescued.  He  begged  me  to  get  out  of  the  coun- 
try that  day,  as  he  would  have  to  obey  orders  or 
"walk  the  plank"  himself.  Halstead  brought  me 
word  that  I  was  to  be  arrested  the  next  day  and  he 
was  positive  that  I  was  to  be  "  shot  while  attempting 
to  escape"  or  put  out  of  the  way  in  some  such  fash- 
ion. That  made  it  look  as  though  the  old  scoundrel 
meant  business  and  I  concluded  to  give  him  the  slip. 
Halstead  declared  he  was  going  with  me  and  as  I 
knew  I  could  rely  on  him  I  let  him  arrange  the 
details  of  our  departure.  Pretending  that  he  was 
going  to  Jacmel  he  sent  his  trunk  and  mine,  both 
marked  as  his  own,  on  board  a  Dutch  steamship 
which  had  come  into  port  that  morning  and  was  to 
leave  the  next  day. 

Against  the  protests  of  both  Halstead  and  Belford 
I  paid  Hippolyte  a  parting  call  that  afternoon.  I 
thanked  him  for  his  courtesy  and  the  order  for  arms 
and  told  him  I  would  be  ready  to  sail  the  next  morn- 
ing on  the  "Toussaint,"  which  I  expected  would  be 
waiting  for  me.  The  old  villain  was  in  his  happiest 
mood  and  even  joked  with  me  about  latter  day  condi- 
tions in  Hayti  as  compared  with  those  which  had 

[368] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 


existed  when  I  was  there  before.  If  I  had  not  known 
what  was  in  his  mind  I  might  have  thought  he  was 
simply  glad  I  was  going  away  without  having  stirred 
up  any  trouble  for  him,  but,  knowing  his  murderous 
plans,  I  appreciated  that  he  was  gloating  over  me. 
The  strange  situation  amused  me  so  that  I  laughed 
immoderately  at  his  jokes  and,  as  all  of  his  gloating 
was  to  be  in  anticipation,  I  let  him  enjoy  himself  to 
his  fill. 

"  Good-bye,  my  friend,"  he  said  as  I  was  leaving. 
"I  wish  you  a  quiet  and  peaceful  trip  to-morrow." 

He  chuckled  over  his  irony  and  I  smiled  back  at 
him,  with  my  thanks.  That  evening,  after  Halstead 
had  loudly  announced  in  the  hotel  office  that  he  ex- 
pected a  visitor  at  eleven  o'clock  and  wished  him 
sent  directly  to  his  room,  he  and  I  slipped  out  by  a 
back  way,  went  to  a  lonely  spot  on  the  beach  where 
he  had  a  boat  in  waiting,  and  rowed  out  to  the  Dutch 
ship.  On  account  of  his  newspaper  connection  Hal- 
stead  had  much  influence  with  the  captain  and  when 
the  ship  was  searched  for  me  the  next  morning,  on 
the  pretence  that  I  was  a  political  prisoner  who  was 
attempting  to  escape,  I  was  not  found. 

We  went  to  Jamaica,  where  Halstead  formerly  had 
lived,  and  there  I  got  in  touch  with  General  Manni- 
gat,  and  went  over  his  plans  against  Hippolyte.  He 

[369] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

impressed  me  as  a  fighter  and  reasonably  honest  and 
he  convinced  me  that  he  had  a  considerable  follow- 
ing in  Hayti.  He  was  positive  that  if  he  had  enough 
arms  he  could  capture  the  country,  so  I  arranged 
with  him  that  the  International  Export  &  Trading 
Co.,  my  concern  for  promoting  revolutions,  would 
ship  him  twenty-five  thousand  dollars'  worth  of 
munitions  of  war  on  the  receipt  of  three  thousand 
dollars  in  cash  and  in  the  further  consideration  on  his 
part  of  a  pledge  that  thirty-three  per  cent  of  the  cus- 
toms receipts  at  Port  au  Prince  would  be  turned  over 
to  us,  until  we  had  been  paid  two  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  dollars,  which  was  at  the  rate  of  ten 
dollars  for  every  one  dollar  that  we  risked.  I  drew 
up  a  contract  to  this  effect,  which  he  signed,  and 
sent  the  order  for  the  arms  to  New  York,  with 
instructions  to  fill  it  when  Mannigat  sent  the  three 
thousand  dollars.  The  money  never  was  sent,  but  I 
still  hold  the  contract,  as  a  souvenir. 

Mannigat  was  in  doubt  as  to  how  soon  the  requisite 
amount  of  cash  could  be  raised,  so  it  was  arranged 
that  I  should  be  advised  when  it  was  forwarded  to 
New  York,  in  order  that  I  might  return  and  take  an 
active  part  in  his  operations,  and  I  went  on  to  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  then  a  part  of  Colombia.  I 
stopped  at  the  International  Hotel,  probably  so 

[370] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

named  because  it  was  the  worst  in  the  world,  at 
Colon,  and  made  no  secret  of  my  business  there,  or 
anywhere  else;  in  fact  I  rather  boasted  of  it,  because 
of  the  novelty  of  being  engaged  in  legitimate  com- 
merce, even  though  I  was  filibustering  on  the  side 
when  the  inducements  were  attractive.  Within  a  few 
days  I  was  approached  by  a  young  Colombian  who 
had  been  educated  in  New  Jersey  and  was  a  good 
deal  of  an  American  in  his  ideas.  Without  telling 
me  what  they  were  for,  but  giving  me  grounds  for 
drawing  my  own  conclusions,  he  ordered  three  thou- 
sand Winchester  rifles  and  the  same  number  of  revol- 
vers, with  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition.  He  said 
he  would  give  me  New  York  exchange  in  part  pay- 
ment of  the  bill  the  following  day,  and  that  the  bal- 
ance would  be  paid  when  they  were  delivered,  at  a 
point  to  be  designated  later. 

During  the  night  that  came  on  the  heels  of  this 
conversation  I  heard  a  few  pistol  shots  but  paid  no 
attention  to  them,  as  there  seemed  to  be  no  resultant 
excitement.  In  the  morning  I  discovered  that  two 
hundred  alleged  revolutionary  plotters,  of  whom  my 
young  customer  of  the  day  before  was  one  of  the 
chiefs,  had  been  arrested  between  darkness  and  dawn 
and  rounded  up  in  a  big  yard,  surrounded  by  a  high 
fence,  directly  back  of  the  hotel.  At  breakfast  I  was 

[371] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

looked  at  curiously  and  I  soon  heard  talk  that  I  was 
also  to  be  taken  into  custody.  A  fat  and  officious 
English  butcher,  who  was  employed  by  the  Governor 
of  Panama  to  spy  on  all  English-speaking  visitors, 
had  reported  my  meeting  with  the  supposed  rebel 
leader  and  had  advised  that  I  be  arrested  on  the 
ground  that  I  was  fomenting  internal  disorder.  I 
knew,  of  course,  that  I  could  establish  my  innocence, 
but  the  administration  of  the  law  in  Latin  America 
is  such  a  fearful  and  wonderful  thing  that  it  might 
take  me  weeks  or  months  to  do  it,  and,  besides  that, 
I  had  no  desire  for  a  clash  with  the  Colombian  Gov- 
ernment and  the  notoriety  which  would  result  from 
it.  Therefore,  when  trouble  appeared  certain  I  took 
refuge  with  the  British  consul,  who  was  just  then 
the  acting  American  consul.  I  explained  the  situa- 
tion to  him  and,  while  maintaining  that  my  business 
was  perfectly  legitimate,  denied  that  I  had  sold  the 
young  patriot  any  arms,  which  was  technically  true 
as  the  deal  had  not  been  closed,  or  that  I  knew  he 
was  involved  in  any  proposed  revolution.  The  con- 
sul sympathized  with  me,  in  compliance  with  the 
most  important  of  the  unwritten  rules  of  the  con- 
sular service,  but,  after  satisfying  himself  that  the 
Governor  had  been  prejudiced  against  me,  he  advised 
that  the  easiest  and  quickest  way  out  of  the  difficulty 

[372] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 


was  the  best.  The  steamship  "Ferdinand  de  Les- 
seps  "  was  leaving  the  next  day  for  the  Spanish  Main, 
which  was  where  I  wanted  to  go,  and  I  went  on 
board  of  her,  under  escort  of  the  consul.  I  was  run- 
ning into  more  trouble  on  this  trip  than  I  had  ever 
before  encountered  in  ten  times  the  same  length  of 
time  and  it  began  to  look  as  though  I  had  brought  a 
hoodoo  on  myself  by  forsaking  the  intricate  paths  of 
adventure  for  the  broad,  not  the  straight  and  narrow, 
way  of  ordinary  trade. 

Not  wishing  to  take  any  further  chances  with 
Colombia  I  did  not  even  go  ashore  at  Savanilla  or 
Cartagena  but  went  on  to  Venezuela,  where  Gen. 
Joachim  Crespo  was  now  in  command.  The  rule  of 
President  Palacio,  whose  supporters  had  betrayed 
my  old  friend  Guzman  Blanco,  had  lasted  but  two 
years  and  was  followed  in  rapid  succession  by  a  series 
of  revolutions.  The  betrayal  of  Guzman  seemed  to 
have  put  a  curse  on  the  country,  for  there  was  dis- 
order all  through  the  Palacio  regime  and  immedi- 
ately following  it  there  were  three  dictatorships  in 
one  year.  Finally,  in  October,  1892,  General  Crespo 
entered  Caracas  and  restored  peace  so  completely 
that  shortly  before  my  arrival  he  was  elected 
Constitutional  President.  I  recalled  that  when 
Crespo  was  a  young  staff  officer  I  had  recommended 

[373] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

him  to  Guzman  for  his  loyalty  and  intelligence,  and, 
if  he  knew  of  this  incident,  I  thought  it  might  now 
prove  of  advantage  to  me  in  my  new  occupation. 

As  we  were  warping  into  the  dock  at  La  Guaira 
the  chief  of  police,  who  was  a  new  man  to  me,  came 
aboard  and  looked  over  the  baggage  of  all  of  the 
passengers  who  were  to  land  there.  When  we  had 
disembarked  he  slipped  his  arm  through  mine  and 
quietly  told  me  I  was  under  arrest  and  to  go  with 
him.  Three  officers  stepped  up  behind  us  to  enforce 
his  orders  and  they  all  looked  me  over  as  though 
they  suspected  that  I  might  be  full  of  dynamite. 
Instead,  I  was  full  of  questions  and  protests,  but  not 
a  word  could  I  get  out  of  them  as  to  the  reason  for 
the  surprising  proceeding.  They  escorted  me  to  the 
police  station  at  the  end  of  the  long  wharf  and  after 
I  had  been  carefully  searched  and  relieved  of  every- 
thing but  my  money  I  was  taken  to  the  fort  on  the 
hill  and  placed  in  a  strong  room,  if  not  a  comfortable 
one.  The  next  day  I  was  removed  to  the  Casa  Pub- 
lica,  or  public  prison,  at  Caracas,  where  I  was  not 
surprised  to  find  several  old  acquaintances.  Gen. 
Tosta  Garcia,  whom  I  had  known  intimately  in  the 
old  days,  was  Governor  of  the  Federal  District  and 
had  authority  over  the  prison,  but,  unfortunately, 

[374] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

he  was  out  of  the  city  and  the  Intendiente,  or  Vice- 
Governor,  who  was  a  stranger  to  me,  was  in  charge. 

Soon  after  my  arrival  I  was  haled  to  his  office, 
apparently  to  be  put  through  an  examination,  but 
before  he  could  ask  me  a  question  I  burst  out  on  him 
with  a  bitter  denunciation  of  my  arrest.  I  told  him 
who  I  was  and  what  I  was  doing  and  that  if  the 
search  of  my  baggage,  which  undoubtedly  had  been 
made,  had  failed  to  establish  my  identity  there  were 
many  prominent  men  in  Caracas  who  would  vouch 
for  me,  including  his  own  immediate  superior.  I 
urged  him  to  explain  the  reason  for  my  detention ;  but 
he  would  say^  nothing,  beyond  a  veiled  suggestion 
that  it  had  been  ordered  by  the  President. 

"Present  my  compliments  to  General  Crespo,"  I 
said,  in  reply  to  this  amazing  intimation,  "and 
remind  him,  if  you  please,  that  I  was  his  friend  when 
my  friendship  was  worth  having.  Tell  him,  too,  that 
if  this  is  the  way  he  treats  his  friends  he  is  a  con- 
temptible snake,"  or  words  to  that  effect. 

The  Intendiente  was  plainly  surprised  at  both  my 
words  and  my  manner  and  without  asking  a  question 
he  sent  me  back  to  the  prison.  The  next  morning  he 
directed  my  release  in  person.  "There  is  no  reason 
for  you  to  be  angry  with  General  Crespo,"  he  said, 
by  way  of  explanation,  "for  he  has  ordered  your 

[375] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

unconditional  release.  You  are  free  to  go  where  you 
please  and  stay  as  long  as  you  please." 

"Which,"  I  replied,  "is  no  compliment  to  me  and 
in  no  way  lessens  the  outrage  to  which  I  have  been 
subjected." 

From  the  Casa  Publica  I  went  to  the  Grand  Hotel 
and  when  my  traps  arrived  there  I  found  that  they 
had  been,  as  I  supposed,  thoroughly  ransacked,  but 
nothing  was  missing.  In  the  following  days  I 
encountered  many  men  whom  I  had  known  well  or 
intimately  fifteen  years  before,  when  Caracas  was 
my  home  for  a  longer  period  than  any  other  city  in 
the  world  had  ever  been,  and  I  was  soon  enjoying 
myself  renewing  acquaintance  with  old  friends, 
among  whom  were  members  of  some  of  the  oldest 
families  in  Venezuela.  To  all  of  them  who  asked  if 
I  had  seen  the  President,  I  said  I  had  not  and  that 
I  did  not  propose  to  call  on  him,  as  I  had  been  shame- 
fully mistreated  by  his  order.  Two  or  three  weeks 
after  my  arrival  the  Minister  of  War  sent  for  me  and 
said  he  understood  I  was  the  agent  of  a  house  that 
sold  munitions  of  war.  I  said  that  was  true,  and 
when  he  expressed  surprise  that  I  had  not  called  on 
him  I  told  him  I  had  been  subjected  to  a  great  injus- 
tice through  him  and  through  General  Crespo,  and 
that  while  I  did  not  expect  an  apology  from  either 

[376] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

one  I  could  at  least  show  them  how  I  felt  about  it 
by  staying  away  from  them,  even  though  I  punished 
myself  and  my  firm  by  so  doing.  However,  if  he 
was  interested,  I  said  I  would  be  glad  to  show  him 
my  samples  and  quote  prices.  He  said  he  was  inter- 
ested, and  proved  it  by  giving  me  a  large  order. 
Beyond  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  which  might  have 
meant  any  one  of  a  dozen  things,  he  made  no  com- 
ment on  my  complaint  of  ill  treatment.  Not  long 
after  this  I  went  one  evening,  by  invitation,  to  the 
home  of  a  doctor  friend  of  mine  and  was  astonished 
to  be  ushered  into  the  presence  of  President  Crespo. 
It  developed  that  the  doctor  was  one  of  Crespo's  in- 
timate associates,  though  I  had  not  known  it  up  to  that 
time.  The  President  greeted  me  with  a  smile  and 
said,  as  he  extended  his  hand,  "  As  Mahomet  would 
not  come  to  the  mountain,  the  mountain  had  to  come 
to  Mahomet." 

"I  never  expected  that  I  would  have  to  apologize 
to  the  man  who,  I  thought,  owed  me  an  apology,  even 
though  I  did  not  look  for  it,  but  that  is  the  situation 
I  find  myself  in  now,"  I  said  to  him.  "  Courtesy  com- 
pels me  to  apologize  for  not  having  called  on  you  to 
pay  my  respects.  But,"  I  added,  "I  am  a  good  deal 
of  a  red  Indian,  which  means  that  I  am  slow  to  for- 

[377] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

give  an  injury,  and  I  felt  that  you  had  done  me  a 
great  injustice." 

"That  was  a  most  unfortunate  incident,"  he  said, 
with  evident  sincerity.  "I  am  going  to  explain  the 
reason  for  my  action  and  let  you  be  the  judge  as  to 
the  justification  for  it."  He  then  told  me  that  five 
or  six  weeks  previously  a  circular  had  been  sent  out 
by  an  American  agent  of  a  Central  American  coun- 
try, in  which  it  was  stated  that  a  man  named  Boyn- 
ton,  of  whom  a  description  was  given,  was  leaving 
New  York  ostensibly  to  sell  munitions  of  war,  but 
that  his  real  purpose  was  to  assassinate  President 
Hippolyte,  of  Hayti,  and  President  Crespo,  of  Vene- 
zuela. He  said,  of  course,  he  had  not  connected  me 
with  the  alleged  anarchist,  for  that  was  what  the 
man  was  stated  to  be,  or  he  would  never  have  issued 
the  order  for  my  arrest. 

"What  would  you  have  done  if  you  had  been  in 
my  place  ?  "  asked  Crespo  when  he  had  completed  his 
explanation. 

"  Precisely  what  you  did." 

"Then,  with  that  explanation,  I  apologize  for  the 
trouble  I  caused  you." 

"That  removes  the  last  sting,"  I  told  him,  and  we 
settled  down  for  a  long  talk.  He  recalled  the  fact  that 
I  had  commended  him  to  General  Guzman  and  ex- 

[378] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

pressed  what  seemed  to  be  genuine  sorrow  over  the 
downfall  of  that  great  chieftain.  Crespo  was  very 
different  in  appearance  from  the  slender  young  aide  I 
had  known  in  the  old  days  and  was  now  a  big,  tall, 
and  well-developed  man.  He  had  been  President  be- 
fore, from  1884  to  1886,  as  a  dummy  for  Guzman,  so 
he  knew  something  of  both  the  responsibilities  and  the 
dangers  of  the  office.  His  manner  impressed  me  and 
I  took  a  pronounced  liking  to  him.  He  said  he  had 
directed  the  Minister  of  War  to  buy  a  bill  of  goods 
from  me  and  to  purchase  all  future  war  supplies 
through  me,  and  I  told  him  I  had  already  received 
the  first  order. 

"I  want  you  to  be  as  good  a  friend  to  me  as  you 
were  to  General  Guzman,"  he  said  in  parting.  I  told 
him  I  expected  to  be  in  Venezuela  for  some  time  and 
would  gladly  be  of  service  to  him  in  any  way  that  I 
could. 

A  few  nights  later  I  was  summoned  to  an  adjoin- 
ing house  where  I  again  met  Crespo  and  had  a  long 
talk  with  him  alone.  He  asked  me  how  much  I 
expected  to  make  in  my  new  business.  Without 
going  into  any  of  the  details  of  my  plans  and  giving 
myself  the  benefit  of  every  doubt,  I  told  him  I  ought 
to  make  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year.  He  said  he  did 
not  know  whether  he  could  pay  me  that  much  in 

[379] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

salary  but  in  one  way  and  another  he  would  see  that 
I  lost  nothing  if  I  would  consent  to  stay  with  him. 
Through  a  visit  to  the  United  States  shortly  before 
he  took  the  field  for  the  presidency  he  had  learned 
of  the  work  of  our  Pinkertons,  and  had  become  im- 
pressed with  the  need  of  a  secret  detective  force  of 
his  own.  It  was  the  same  idea  that  Guzman  had 
when  I  became  his  confidential  agent,  but  Crespo 
wanted  it  worked  out  on  a  broader  scale  so  that  he 
could  be  kept  advised  as  to  the  movements  and  plans 
of  his  most  important  enemies,  and  truthfully  told  of 
the  fluctuations  in  public  sentiment.  He  asked  me  to 
undertake  the  organization  of  a  force  of  secret  service 
agents,  whom  I  was  to  employ  and  pay  in  my  own 
discretion  and  for  such  time  as  I  needed  them,  and 
I  consented.  A  means  of  communication  was  estab- 
lished through  an  unused  rear  door  to  his  private 
apartments  at  Santa  Inez  Palace,  to  which  I  was 
given  a  key,  and  I  was  to  have  access  to  him  at  any 
hour  of  the  day  or  night.  I  told  him,  however,  that 
our  intimate  relationship  had  best  not  be  known,  so 
that  I  could  keep  on  friendly  terms  with  all  classes, 
and  that  I  would  openly  criticise  him,  and  even 
denounce  him,  whenever  it  served  my  purpose  and 
his  welfare. 

In    the    two    years    that    followed    the    relations 
[380] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

between  Crespo  and  myself  became  as  cordial  as  they 
were  confidential.  Though  of  humble  origin,  and  fully 
half  Indian,  there  must  have  been  blue  blood  some- 
where among  his  ancestors,  for  he  was  a  polished  gen- 
tleman in  his  manners  and  extremely  magnetic.  He 
was  tremendously  powerful  and  while  he  weighed  all 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  he  was  so  well  built 
and  so  tall  that  he  did  not  look  heavy.  He  put  me  in 
mind  of  a  square-rigged  ship  of  graceful  lines,  with 
all  of  her  canvas  set.  He  could  hardly  read  and  write 
but  he  had  an  insatiable  thirst  for  information,  and 
his  close  friends  used  to  read  to  him  at  night  until 
he  fell  asleep.  He  never  drank  to  excess ;  was  a  good 
husband  and  an  indulgent  father,  and  the  most  con- 
tinent Venezuelano  I  ever  knew.  He  thought  he  was 
honest  and  he  certainly  was  loyal  to  his  friends  and 
stubborn  in  his  opinions.  He  was  so  strong  in  his 
friendship,  in  fact,  that  he  was  sometimes  imposed  on, 
for  with  a  man  whom  he  liked  and  trusted  he  was  as 
credulous  as  a  child.  The  advice  and  warnings  of 
Donna  Crespo  and  myself  caused  him  to  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  many  of  his  evil-minded  followers  but  we  could 
not  silence  all  of  them,  and  their  influence  prevented 
him  from  being  a  really  great  President.  In  the 
face  of  a  danger  that  could  be  seen,  no  matter  how 
great,  he  was  entirely  without  fear,  but  he  was  in  con- 

[381] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

stant  dread  of  assassination.  He  was  skilful  in  the 
use  of  revolver  and  rifle  and  was  passionately  fond  of 
firearms,  perhaps  because  of  his  besetting  fear. 
When  the  first  shipment  of  Maxim  guns  was  received 
he  had  me  set  one  of  them  up  in  the  yard  back  of 
Santa  Inez  Palace.  He  examined  it  carefully,  with 
all  the  pleasure  of  a  child  with  a  new  toy,  tested  its 
flexibility  and  radius  of  action,  and  then  cut  "J. 
Crespo  "  with  a  stream  of  bullets  in  a  brick  wall  sixty 
feet  away,  and  gleefully  surveyed  his  handiwork. 

Not  long  after  entering  his  employ  I  was  instru- 
mental in  saving  his  life.  He  had  gone  for  an  outing 
to  an  atto,  or  ranch,  twenty  miles  from  Guacara, 
which  was  near  Valencia,  where  Gen.  Ignacio 
Andrade  was  then  stationed.  The  night  after  he  left 
Caracas  I  learned  through  one  of  my  agents  that  two 
hundred  men  were  to  start  out  at  midnight  ostensibly 
for  Saint  Lucia,  but  when  part  way  there  they  were 
to  proceed  diagonally  across  the  plains  to  the  ranch 
at  which  Crespo  was  stopping,  where  they  planned 
to  capture  and  shoot  him.  I  employed  a  dare-devil 
nephew  of  Guzman,  whom  I  knew  I  could  trust,  to 
gallop  at  top  speed  to  Andrade  with  a  letter  in  which 
I  told  him  of  the  plot.  He  immediately  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  the  President  to  warn  him  of  his  danger, 
and  followed  him  quickly  with  five  hundred  troops. 

[382] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

Crespo  was  found  two  or  three  miles  out  on  the 
ranch,  and  by  his  order  the  soldiers  were  hidden  in 
and  around  the  farm  buildings.  When  the  rebels 
came  up  they  were  surrounded  before  they  knew 
what  had  happened.  Their  leader  was  shot  on  the 
spot  and  his  lieutenants  were  imprisoned.  Andrade 
did  just  what  any  other  good  soldier  would  have  done, 
yet  it  was  this  act  more  than  anything  else,  I  have 
always  believed,  that  caused  Crespo  to  select  him  as 
his  successor,  with  tragic  results.  Though  deeply 
grateful  to  me  he  considered  that  he  owed  his  life 
to  Andrade. 

Several  other  plots  against  Crespo's  life  were  dis- 
covered and  frustrated  by  the  effective  secret  service 
I  had  created,  and  most  of  those  who  were  impli- 
cated in  them  were  properly  punished.  One  of  these 
murder  schemes,  which  proved  to  be  more  serious 
than  I  at  first  supposed,  involved  the  telephone  in 
Crespo's  private  room.  The  plan  was  to  substitute 
for  the  regular  receiver  one  which  looked  exactly  like 
it  but  was  not  insulated,  and  then,  when  the  Presi- 
dent had  answered  a  call  and  was  holding  the  receiver 
against  his  ear,  switch  into  the  telephone  the  full 
current  from  an  electric  light  dynamo,  in  the  hope 
that  the  shock  would  be  strong  enough  to  kill  him. 
My  first  inkling  of  this  came  from  an  American 

[383] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

electrical  engineer  and  while  I  satisfied  myself  that 
such  a  plot  had  been  laid  I  never  was  able  to  get  to 
the  bottom  of  it,  though  I  had  an  intelligent  suspi- 
cion as  to  who  was  responsible  for  it. 

Crespo  was  keenly  appreciative  of  my  services  and 
was  anxious  to  put  me  in  the  way  of  making  a  for- 
tune, to  take  the  place  of  the  ones  I  had  lost  in 
speculation  and  in  trying  to  outdo  the  King  of  the  Bel- 
gians in  riotous  living,  to  which  I  have  ever  been 
prone.  There  were  then  two  lines  of  horse  cars  in 
Caracas.  It  seemed  to  me  there  was  a  good  opening 
for  an  electric  system,  and  through  Crespo's  influence 
I  secured  a  blanket  franchise  that  was  most  sweeping 
in  its  terms.  It  gave  me  the  right  to  parallel  the 
existing  lines  and  build  new  ones  on  any  streets  that 
I  selected,  all  over  the  city,  or,  as  it  was  unfortunately 
worded  "  all  around  the  city."  The  only  literal  Span- 
ish equivalent  for  this,  as  far  as  I  knew,  was  clrcum- 
valorate,  and  that  word  was  used  to  describe  my 
rights.  I  was  also  given  the  right  to  condemn  water- 
falls for  thirty  miles  around  to  generate  electricity. 
The  most  desirable  of  these  natural  power  plants  was 
over  toward  Macuto,  and  was  owned  by  one  of  the 
Guzman  family.  I  arranged  to  sell  my  franchise  to 
a  Brooklyn  street  railway  man  for  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  but  when  he  came  to  investigate  it 

[384] 


REVOLUTION  AS  A  FINE  ART 

he  found  that  circumvalorale  meant  exactly  what 
it  said,  "all  around  the  city,"  and  that  outside  of  the 
lines  parallel  to  the  existing  street  railways,  which 
were  specifically  provided  for,  he  could  do  nothing 
more  than  build  a  belt  line  along  the  outside  edge  of 
the  city.  Crespo  tried  to  have  the  franchise  amended 
so  that  it  would  give  me,  in  plain  terms,  just  what  I 
wanted  and  what  I  thought  I  had,  but  the  amend- 
ment failed  of  passage  by  one  vote,  that  of  the  Guz- 
man descendant,  who  feared  that  my  next  move 
would  be  the  condemnation  of  his  waterfall.  Nat- 
urally, the  deal  fell  through.  That  one  miserable 
word  cost  me  just  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  I 
never  have  used  it  since  then  until  now ;  it  is  too 
expensive  for  ordinary  conversation. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1895  Crespo  was  asked  to 
revive  the  concession  which  Guzman  Blanco  had 
granted  to  the  old  Manoa  Company,  and  which  had 
subsequently  been  annulled.  This  concession,  which 
had  passed  through  several  hands  and  was  then  held 
by  the  Orinoco  Company,  Limited,  took  in  the  entire 
delta  of  the  Orinoco  and  covered  eight  million  acres 
of  land,  an  empire  that  was  wonderfully  rich  in  a 
variety  of  resources.  Crespo,  believing  that  here  was 
an  unusual  opportunity  for  me  to  rebuild  my  for- 
tunes and  for  him  to  prove  his  gratitude,  notified  the 

[385] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

Orinoco  Co.  that  he  would  restore  the  concession  pro- 
vided I  was  made  manager  of  it.  They  were  quite 
willing  to  employ  me  in  this  capacity  for,  without 
any  regard  to  what  ability  I  might  have  as  a  mana- 
ger, they  were  assured  of  having  the  government 
with  them,  which  is  a  consideration  of  first  impor- 
tance throughout  South  and  Central  America.  I  was 
by  no  means  anxious  to  go  with  them  but  I  finally 
yielded  to  Crespo's  advice  and  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment, though  without  binding  myself  to  stay  more 
than  six  months.  Crespo  gave  me,  in  effect,  the 
power  of  life  and  death  over  every  one  on  the  conces- 
sion, and  put  me  above  the  law.  He  instructed  the 
Governor  of  the  Delta  Territorio  that  whatever  I  did 
was  well  done,  and  that  I  was  not  to  be  held  to 
account  for  it.  I  left  for  Santa  Catalina,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  concession,  on  December  17,  1895, 
the  day  that  President  Cleveland  sent  to  Congress 
his  message  on  the  Venezuelan  boundary  question. 


[386] 


CHAPTER   XVI 
AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

T  T  was  in  vexed  Venezuela  that  I  was  destined  to 
•*•  end  my  days  of  deviltry,  but  not  until  after  a  pro- 
tracted warfare,  none  the  less  bitter  because  it  was 
conducted  at  long  range,  with  Castro  the  Contemp- 
tible, who  came  into  power  two  years  after  I  had 
finally  settled  down  at  Santa  Catalina  as  manager  for 
the  Orinoco  Company.  Cipriano  Castro  had  been  in 
Congress  as  Diputado,  or  Member  of  the  House,  from 
one  of  the  Andean  districts  while  I  was  in  Caracas 
with  President  Crespo,  and  though  he  was  regarded 
as  a  good  fighter  and  a  disturbing  element  he  was 
never  considered  as  a  presidential  possibility.  Had 
that  unhappy  prospect  ever  been  suggested  it  could 
easily  have  been  imagined  that  he  would,  as  he  abun- 
dantly did,  prove  himself  the  "  Vulture  of  Venezuela," 
the  most  despotic  and  dishonest  ruler  with  which  that 
unfortunate  country  has  ever  been  cursed,  and  the 
most  cunning. 

With  all  of  my  hatred  for  Castro  and  everything 
pertaining  to  him  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  was 
an  exceedingly  shrewd  scoundrel;  had  he  been  half 

[387] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

as  honest  he  could  have  made  himself  the  greatest 
man  in  South  America.  He  supported  Anduesa  Pal- 
acio,  the  deposed  President  who  had  betrayed  Guz- 
man Blanco,  in  his  final  campaign  against  Crespo, 
before  the  latter  was  recognized  as  Dictator,  and 
defeated  General  Morales  in  the  battle  of  Tariba  on 
May  15,  1892.  For  some  time  after  that  he  was  in 
full  control  of  that  section  of  the  country,  but  with 
the  firm  establishment  of  the  new  regime  he  gave  up 
the  fight.  In  recognition  of  the  military  ability  he 
had  displayed,  Crespo  offered  to  make  him  Collec- 
tor of  Customs  at  Puerto  Cabello.  He  declined  the 
position  but,  egotistically  exaggerating  the  purpose 
of  the  proffer,  he  pompously  promised  Crespo  that  he 
would  not  attempt  to  overthrow  his  government.  He 
then  came  to  Congress,  where  he  would  have  been 
almost  unnoticed  but  for  the  amusement  he  created 
by  solemnly  removing  his  shoes  and  putting  on 
black  kid  gloves  every  time  he  sat  down  to  the,  to 
him,  herculean  task  of  drafting  a  bill.  He  was  as 
rough  and  uncouth  as  the  rest  of  the  mountaineers; 
short  of  stature,  secretive  of  mind,  and  suspicious  of 
every  one,  excepting  only  a  few  of  his  brother  bri- 
gands from  the  Andes.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term 
he  returned  to  the  hills  and  bought  a  farm  just  across 
the  Colombian  border.  He  posed  as  a  cattle-raiser, 

[388] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

but  all  of  the  reports  that  reached  Caracas  said  he  was 
much  more  of  a  cattle-rustler,  or  stealer.  He  was 
a  persistent  tax-dodger  and  his  herd,  which  was  said 
to  show  fifty  different  brands  that  represented  as 
many  thefts,  was  driven  back  and  forth  across  the 
border  to  avoid  the  Venezuelan  and  Colombian  col- 
lectors. He  was  engaged  in  this  profitable  pastime 
when  I  left  Caracas,  and  had  disappeared  from  all 
political  and  revolutionary  calculations. 

I  first  arrived  at  Santa  Catalina,  whither  I  had 
gone  on  the  urgent  advice  of  Crespo,  early  in  1896. 
It  was  a  straggling  little  town,  with  the  company's 
headquarters,  a  large  wooden  building  containing 
forty  rooms,  which  was  used  for  both  residential  and 
administrative  purposes,  standing  close  to  the  bank 
of  the  Piacoa  River,  a  branch  of  the  Orinoco,  oppo- 
site the  lower  end  of  the  Island  of  Tortola  —  the 
Iwana  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  The  building  con- 
tained a  store,  with  a  large  supply  of  goods  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  colonists  in  a  new  and  tropical  coun- 
try, and  around  it  were  carpenter,  blacksmith,  and 
machine  shops.  The  company  also  owned  three  small 
steamers,  which  were  used  to  bring  supplies  from 
Trinidad  and  run  back  and  forth  to  Barrancas,  thirty 
miles  upstream  at  the  head  of  the  Macareo  River,  the 
main  estuary  of  the  Orinoco,  through  which  all  of  the 

[389] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

commerce  passes.  The  Atlantic  Ocean  was  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  below  us  and  Ciudad  Bolivar,  the 
principal  city  on  the  Orinoco  and  the  head  of  all-the- 
year  navigation,  was  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles 
above. 

Tradition  says  that  Santa  Catalina  was  named  by 
Raleigh  who,  according  to  the  native  story,  camped 
there  when  he  was  pushing  his  way  up  the  Orinoco 
in  search  of  the  fabled  El  Dorado,  with  its  golden 
city  of  Manoa.  Just  above  Barrancas  are  the  ruins 
of  a  strong  fort  that  he  built  as  a  safe  abiding  place 
for  a  part  of  his  force  while  he  went  farther  on  up 
the  river.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  irony  of  an  unkind  fate 
which  pursued  the  great  adventurer,  that  near  this 
fort,  from  which  searching  parties  were  sent  out,  is 
the  rich  mine  of  El  Callao,  whose  gold  probably  gave 
rise  to  the  stories  that  started  Raleigh  on  his  heroic 
hunt  for  the  shining  city  that  was  the  objective  point 
of  all  of  the  Argonauts  who  followed  Columbus  and 
Ojeda.  If  Raleigh  had  been  looking  for  gold  by  the 
pound  instead  of  by  the  ton  and  had  searched  more 
carefully  he  probably  would  have  found  enough  to 
satisfy  him. 

Stretching  away  to  unmeasured  lengths  from  the 
pin  prick  which  the  headquarters  village  made  in  it, 
was  the  virgin  forest,  with  its  wealth  of  gold  and  iron, 

[390] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

rubber  and  asphalt,  and  its  square  miles  of  mahogany, 
Spanish  cedar,  rosewood,  carapo,  greenheart,  and 
mora  wood,  all  within  the  confines  of  our  concession. 
Far  off  to  the  southwest,  in  a  region  which  I  never 
could  find  time  to  explore,  was  the  mythical  dwell- 
ing place  of  the  people  whom  Raleigh  described, 
though  only  on  the  word  of  the  natives,  as  having  no 
heads  but  with  eyes  in  their  shoulders  and  mouths  in 
their  chests,  with  a  long  mane  trailing  out  from  their 
spines.  Down  the  Orinoco,  half  way  to  the  coast, 
was  Imitaca  Mountain,  a  great  hill  of  iron  ore,  which 
is  said  to  be  one  of  the  largest  and  richest  deposits  in 
the  world. 

The  letters  which  Crespo  had  given  me  to  the  Ter- 
ritorial Governor  and  to  the  "Jefe  Civile,"  who  had 
immediate  jurisdiction  over  the  headquarters  of  our 
concession,  gave  me  a  high  standing  and  I  proceeded 
to  conciliate  the  people,  who  had  become  disaffected 
toward  the  old  management,  and  lay  plans  for  the 
development  of  the  property.  The  real  boss  of  the 
people  of  Venezuela  is  the  "Jefe  Civile."  He  has 
complete  jurisdiction  over  the  people  of  his  district, 
which  generally  embraces  a  county,  and  is  consulted 
on  all  matters  of  argument,  whether  domestic,  politi- 
cal, or  religious.  His  decision  is  usually  final, 
although  an  appeal  may  be  taken  to  the  Court  of  First 

[391] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

Instance  in  which  his  district  is  situated.  His  author- 
ity closely  resembles  that  of  a  French  prefect,  and 
admits  of  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  private  life 
of  the  people.  Practically,  there  are  no  secrets  in 
Venezuela.  If  two  people  stop  in  the  street  and  talk 
for  a  moment  they  are  surrounded  by  an  inquisitive 
crowd.  If  a  woman  complains  to  the  Jefe  Civile  of 
her  husband's  ill  treatment,  it  is  done  with  the  win- 
dows and  doors  open,  in  a  room  more  or  less  filled 
with  idle  spectators. 

The  Jefe  Civile  at  Catalina  assisted  me  in  my  ef- 
fort to  open  up  the  country  and  active  operations  were 
soon  under  way.  The  natives,  who  were  living  just 
as  when  Columbus  discovered  them,  and  wearing  no 
more  clothes  than  could  be  noticed,  were  attracted  by 
the  prosperity  which  it  was  presumed  would  follow 
our  development  work,  and  little  pueblos  sprang 
up  along  the  river  on  both  sides  of  us.  These  people, 
working  directly  for  the  company  or  under  a  license 
on  a  royalty  basis,  were  employed  chiefly  in  cutting 
timber  and  collecting  balata  gum,  which  has  many 
of  the  qualities  of  rubber  without  its  elasticity  and  is 
caught  by  tapping  the  trees.  The  native  labor  was 
not  very  satisfactory  at  the  best,  as  judged  by 
American  standards,  and  we  imported  some  negroes 
from  Trinidad,  who  were  little  better. 

[392] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

Our  concession  covered  a  territory  larger  than  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  nearly  all  of  which  was  terra 
incognita.  It  was  out  of  the  question  to  think  of 
trying  to  go  all  over  it,  but,  to  gain  an  intelligent 
idea  as  to  the  nature  of  the  inland  country  and  its 
resources,  I  made  one  trip  into  the  interior,  toward 
the  disputed  border  of  British  Guiana,  which  was  our 
eastern  limit.  But  for  the  boundary  dispute  between 
Venezuela  and  England  the  Orinoco  Company  never 
would  have  secured  its  concession,  for  the  shrewd 
Guzman  granted  it  with  the  idea  that  the  Americans 
would  colonize  the  territory  and  effectively  resist 
the  British ,  invasion,  which  he  was  powerless  to  do. 
In  their  progressive  search  for  gold  —  the  continued 
pursuit  of  Raleigh's  will-o'-the-wisp  —  the  English- 
men in  Guiana  were  advancing  farther  and  farther 
into  Venezuela  and  carrying  the  boundary  with  them, 
or  claiming  that  it  was  always  just  ahead  of  them, 
which,  so  far  as  Venezuela's  protests  went,  amounted 
to  the  same  thing.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  sweet  siren 
song  of  gold  that  caused  the  establishment  of  the 
three  Guianas,  so  that  the  British,  French,  and  Dutch 
might  prosecute  the  search  under  the  most  favorable 
conditions. 

My  expedition  Guianaward  was  the  hardest  trip  I 
have  ever  undertaken  and  yet  one  of  the  most  inter- 

[393] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

esting.  We  had  to  make  our  own  trail  and  though 
I  had  a  dozen  men  with  me  it  was  a  tremendous  task 
to  cut  our  way  through  the  thick  underbrush,  never 
before  disturbed,  which  often  barred  our  progress. 
We  could  carry  few  supplies,  but  it  was  easy  to  live 
off  the  country,  for  there  was  enough  game  to  feed 
an  army.  Not  knowing  what  to  make  of  us,  the 
jaguar,  puma,  tapir,  and  ocelot  came  so  close  that  they 
were  easily  shot,  while  overhead  were  millions  of 
monkeys,  parrots,  and  macaws,  to  say  nothing  of 
great  snakes  that  would  have  made  the  fortune  of  a 
menagerie  manager.  At  long  intervals,  living  on  the 
banks  of  rivers,  we  encountered  a  few  wild  Indians, 
who  were  terrified  until  they  found  we  were  not  tax 
collectors  sent  out  by  the  government  to  take  them 
into  slavery  on  account  of  their  inability  to  pay 
extortionate  taxes,  which  are  levied  for  no  other  pur- 
pose than  to  compel  them  to  work  for  years  without 
pay.  When  they  became  convinced  that  we  meant 
them  no  harm  they  were  very  friendly  and  generously 
offered  us  things  to  eat,  which  I  was  afraid  to  touch. 
They  never  had  seen  a  white  man  before,  and  I 
regretted  that  some  of  my  friends  were  not  hidden  in 
the  bushes  to  witness  the  reverence  they  showed  me. 
They  were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  which  they 
used  with  wonderful  accuracy,  and  crudely  fashioned 

[394] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

spears,  and  wore  nothing  much  but  feathers  in  their 
hair.  They  lived  on  fish  and  game,  with  yams  and 
plantains,  and  sometimes  corn,  as  side  dishes,  and 
native  fruits  for  dessert,  and  they  were  the  healthiest 
looking  people  I  have  ever  seen.  I  pushed  into  this 
veritable  paradise  for  all  of  a  hundred  miles,  which 
carried  me  close  to  the  border,  and  discovered  one 
outcropping  of  gold  which  will  some  day  be  devel- 
oped into  a  rich  property.  Our  progress  was  so  slow 
that  it  was  two  months  before  we  were  back  in 
Catalina. 

After  getting  the  development  work  well  started  I 
left  it  in  charge  of  the  superintendent  and  returned 
to  Caracas.  I  was  not  yet  ready  to  bury  myself  on 
the  concession,  for  that,  I  thought,  was  what  it  would 
mean  to  become  a  fixture  there,  and,  besides,  I  was 
curious  to  know  how  things  were  going  at  the  capital. 
I  stopped  at  Trinidad  on  the  way  to  attend  to  some 
business  for  the  company  and  enjoy  a  taste  of  real 
civilization,  so  it  was  early  in  1897  before  I  resumed 
my  old  confidential  position  with  President  Crespo. 
The  restoration  was  to  be  only  temporary,  he  de- 
clared, for  he  insisted  that  a  fortune  awaited  me  in 
the  Orinoco  delta  and  wished  me  to  become  estab- 
lished there.  His  term  expired  the  following  Feb- 
ruary and  I  found  that  he  had  already  decided  on 

[395] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

General  Ignacio  Andrade  as  his  successor.  He  had 
planned  to  continue  as  Dictator  of  the  country,  a  la 
Guzman,  and  spend  much  of  his  idle  time,  and  money, 
abroad,  and  he  wanted  a  man  who  could  be  relied  on 
to  keep  his  organization  intact  and  turn  the  office 
back  to  him  at  the  end  of  his  term,  for  the  Venezuelan 
constitution  prohibits  a  President  from  succeeding 
himself. 

Donna  Crespo,  who  besides  being  the  greatest 
smuggler  in  the  country  was  a  shrewd  judge  of  men, 
had  taken  a  pronounced  dislike  to  Andrade  and  ad- 
vised strongly  against  his  selection.  Without  know- 
ing how  truly  she  spoke  she  predicted  that  if  Andrade 
were  made  President,  Crespo  would  be  dead  within 
six  months.  I  added  my  advice  to  the  Donna's,  for 
I  knew  Andrade  was  a  weak  man  and  one  who  could 
not  be  trusted  to  hold  the  country  with  the  tight  rein 
which  his  agreement  required.  Powerful  friends  of 
Crespo  in  Trinidad  also  urged  him  to  select  a  stronger 
man,  but  he  could  not  be  moved.  He  credited  An- 
drade with  having  saved  his  life,  on  the  occasion  when 
I  sent  a  galloping  warning  of  the  plot  to  murder  him, 
and,  as  a  monument  to  him  and  an  evidence  of  his 
friendship,  he  planned  that  he  should  be  made  Presi- 
dent by  the  first  "popular  election"  in  the  history  of 
Venezuela.  The  peons  idolized  Crespo  because  they 

[395] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

felt  that  he  was  more  nearly  one  of  their  own  class, 
as  compared  with  aristocrats  of  the  Guzman  Blanco 
type.  He  was  so  well  liked  by  the  common  people 
and  had  such  a  strong  grip  on  the  country  that  he  was 
able  to  carry  out  the  idea  which  his  loyal  friendship 
inspired,  but  with  disastrous  results  in  the  end,  to 
himself,  to  Andrade,  and  to  Venezuela. 

On  election  day  the  soldiers  at  Guatira,  Guarenas, 
and  Petare,  surrounding  towns  which  I  visited  from 
Caracas  to  get  a  close  view  of  the  unique  proceeding, 
doffed  their  uniforms  and  donned  blouses,  with  their 
revolvers  strapped  on  underneath,  marched  to  the 
polls  and  voted  as  often  as  was  required.  Other 
towns  throughout  the  country  witnessed  the  same 
performance.  The  peons  also  voted  for  Andrade, 
either  because  they  knew  Crespo  wanted  them  to  or 
because  the  soldiers  so  instructed  them,  and  they 
kept  at  it  until  the  designated  number  of  votes  had 
been  deposited.  For  a  popular  election  it  was  the 
weirdest  thing  that  could  be  imagined,  yet  it  was  so 
proclaimed.  As  though  to  disprove  this  boast  it  was 
immediately  followed  by  mutterings  of  discontent 
from  the  better  class  of  citizens,  and  on  the  night  of 
Andrade's  inauguration  General  Hernandez,  the 
famed  "El  Mocho,"  who  was  Minister  of  Public  Im- 
provements in  Crespo's  Cabinet  but  an  opponent 

[397] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

of  the  new  President,  took  to  the  hills  at  the  head  of 
three  thousand  troops  and  raised  the  standard  of 
revolt.  Crespo  really  was  responsible  for  the  curse 
of  Castro,  for  had  he  selected  a  strong  man  as  his  suc- 
cessor the  mountain  brigand  never  could  have  com- 
manded a  force  sufficiently  powerful  to  overthrow 
him. 

Within  a  month  Andrade  went  through  the  form 
of  appointing  Crespo  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Army,  in  order  that  he  might  clinch  his  dictatorship. 
For  a  while  Crespo  contented  himself  with  enjoying 
his  new  title  and  directing  operations  from  the  cap- 
ital, but  the  Hernandez  revolution  finally  assumed 
such  proportions  that  he  took  the  field  in  person  to 
stamp  it  out.  The  two  armies  met  in  the  mountains 
near  Victoria  on  June  12,  1898.  Hernandez  was 
led  into  a  trap,  given  a  drubbing,  and  captured.  After 
the  battle  Crespo  walked  across  the  field  and  was 
leaning  over  a  wounded  man  when  he  was  shot  from 
behind  and  instantly  killed.  It  was  claimed  that  the 
shot  was  fired  from  the  bush  by  one  of  the  escaped 
rebels,  and  it  was  so  reported,  but  no  one  who  was  at 
all  on  the  inside  accepted  this  explanation.  The  bul- 
let that  killed  Crespo  was  of  a  peculiar  pattern  and 
exactly  fitted  the  pistol  of  one  of  his  own  officers, 
who  was  not  a  Venezuelano.  I  doubt  if  there  was 

[398] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

another  weapon  exactly  like  it  in  the  whole  country. 
The  responsibility  for  the  murder,  for  such  it  un- 
doubtedly was,  could  easily  have  been  fixed,  but  the 
cowardly  Andrade  refused  to  order  a  real  investi- 
gation and,  of  course,  there  was  no  prosecution. 
Crespo's  body  was  packed  in  a  barrel  of  rum  and 
brought  to  Caracas  for  burial. 

The  capture  of  "El  Mocho"  checked  the  spirit  of 
revolt,  but  not  for  long.  Andrade  had  nothing  to 
commend  him  but  his  honesty,  which  quality  was  so 
little  understood  in  Venezuela  that  it  counted  for 
nothing,  and  he  became  more  and  more  unpopular. 
He  was  surrounded  by  plotters,  even  within  his  offi- 
cial family,  and  only  their  inability  to  agree  on  his 
successor  prevented  his  speedy  overthrow.  Some 
few  months  after  Crespo's  death,  Castro,  who  had 
made  himself  Governor  of  the  State  of  Los  Andes, 
visited  Caracas  and  called  on  Andrade  with  the  de- 
mand that  he  be  appointed  to  an  important  position 
in  the  new  administration  as  the  price  of  peace. 
Andrade,  to  his  credit  be  it  said,  not  only  refused  to 
appoint  him  to  any  office  but  flouted  him,  and  Castro 
left  the  Yellow  House  in  a  rage.  He  sought  the  coun- 
cils of  Andrade's  enemies  and,  after  many  confer- 
ences, it  was  arranged  that  there  should  be  a  general 
insurrection  early  in  the  following  Summer.  The 

[399] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

question  of  filling  the  presidency  was  left  open,  with 
the  understanding  that  it  should  go  to  the  leader 
who  developed  the  greatest  strength  during  the  cam- 
paign. 

Castro  went  back  to  his  mountain  home,  to  dis- 
cover that  his  cattle  had  been  seized  and  a  warrant 
issued  for  his  arrest,  at  the  instance  of  Andrade's 
friends,  for  cattle  stealing.  He  resorted  to  his  old 
trick  of  dodging  across  the  border,  but  a  similar  war- 
rant was  secured  from  the  Colombian  Government, 
which  had  no  more  love  for  the  Indian  upstart  than 
had  the  one  at  Caracas.  In  fact,  Castro  at  one  time 
seriously  had  considered  starting  a  revolt  in  Colombia 
in  the  hope  of  gaining  the  presidency.  With  officers 
of  both  countries  searching  for  him  he  went  into  hid- 
ing and  remained  under  cover  until  May  23,  1899, 
when  he  invaded  Venezuela  with  a  force  of  sixty  peinil- 
leros,  so  called  from  the  fact  that  they  were  armed 
with  the  peinilla,  a  sword  shaped  like  a  scimitar. 
They  were  of  the  lowest  type  of  Indian,  but  brave 
and  hard  fighters.  His  old  cattle-rustling  neighbors 
hailed  him  with  joy,  for  until  then  they  never  had 
dreamed  that  any  man  from  the  mountains  could  be- 
come a  really  important  factor  in  Venezuelan  affairs, 
and  more  than  a  thousand  of  them  flocked  to  his 
standard. 

[400] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

Supposing  that  the  other  parties  to  the  revolution- 
ary agreement  would  carry  out  their  part  of  the 
programme,  and  that  he  would  join  forces  with  them 
as  he  neared  the  capital,  Castro  set  out  on  his  march 
toward  Caracas.  Andrade  had  become  so  unpopular 
by  this  time  that  he  encountered  little  opposition,  and 
as  he  captured  successive  towns  he  opened  the  prisons 
and  the  freed  convicts  fell  in  behind  him.  When  he 
reached  Valencia,  less  than  one  hundred  miles  from 
Caracas,  he  had  an  undisciplined  but  effective  force 
of  three  thousand  bloodthirsty  brigands.  General 
Ferrer  was  stationed  there  with  six  thousand  well- 
equipped  regulars,  and  though  he  was  by  no  means 
enthusiastic  in  his  loyalty  to  Andrade  he  did  his  duty 
as  a  soldier,  according  to  the  quaint  standards  of  the 
country.  He  marched  his  men  out  and  surrounded 
Castro,  with  the  exception  of  a  conspicuous  hole 
through  which  the  latter  could  escape,  and  then  went 
into  camp  for  the  night.  This  proceeding  was  in  strict 
accord  with  the  ethics  of  that  strange  land.  Except 
in  extreme  cases  it  is  the  unwritten  law  that  when  a 
rebel  leader  is  encountered  by  a  superior  government 
force,  the  regulars  must  surround  him  with  a  great 
show,  but  be  careful  to  leave  a  wide  hole  in  their  line 
through  which  he  can  run  away  during  the  night. 
Invariably  he  takes  advantage  of  his  opportunity  and 

[401] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

it  is  officially  announced  that  he  "escaped."  Of 
course,  after  a  rebel  chieftain  has  made  several  es- 
capes of  this  kind  and  still  continues  in  revolt  he  is 
surrounded  in  earnest,  but  harsh  measures  are  not 
resorted  to  until  he  has  had  ample  opportunity  to 
escape  or  come  into  camp  and  be  good. 

Castro  violated  all  the  precedents  of  his  plundering 
profession  by  failing  to  run  through  the  hole  that 
had  been  left  for  him.  When  Ferrer  saw  him  the  next 
morning,  in  the  middle  of  the  ring  calmly  waiting  for 
the  fight  to  begin,  he  was  nonplussed.  He  could  not 
understand  that  method  of  warfare  and,  concluding 
that  Castro  must  be  a  real  hero  and  perhaps,  as  he 
even  then  claimed  to  be,  a  genuine  "  man  of  destiny," 
he  solved  the  problem  by  joining  forces  with  him, 
for  which  he  was  subsequently  rewarded  by  being 
made  Minister  of  War.  Castro  learned  from  Ferrer 
that  he  was  alone  in  the  revolution,  his  promised  part- 
ners having  failed  to  take  the  field  on  account  of 
bickerings  and  jealousies  among  themselves.  This 
discovery  and  the  addition  of  Ferrer's  forces  gave  him 
his  first  really  serious  notion  that  he  might  become 
President,  and  he  marched  forward  in  a  frenzy  of 
bombastic  joy.  He  picked  out  a  star  as  his  own  and 
ceremoniously  worshipped  it.  Clearly  his  star  was  in 
the  ascendant,  figuratively  at  least,  for  at  Victoria, 

[402] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

only  thirty-five  miles  outside  of  the  capital,  he  made 
terms  with  General  Mendoza,  who  was  disgruntled 
with  Andrade,  and  picked  up  another  army.  When 
the  tottering  President  heard  of  this  final  evidence  of 
disloyalty  he  boarded  a  gunboat  at  La  Guaira,  taking 
with  him  a  well-filled  treasure  chest,  and  went  to 
Trinidad.  The  alleged  warship  leaked  badly  and 
Andrade,  who  had  a  sense  of  humor,  sent  word  back 
to  Castro  by  her  commander  to  have  her  repaired  at 
once  so  that  she  might  be  in  better  shape  for  a  hur- 
ried departure  when  it  should  come  his  turn  to  be 
deposed. 

By  this  time  the  people  of  Venezuela,  ripe  for  a 
change  of  administration  and  believing  that  no  one 
could  be  worse  than  Andrade,  had  begun  to  find  out, 
as  had  Castro  himself,  what  a  powerful  person  he 
really  was,  and  they  accepted  him  as  their  master. 
He  entered  Caracas  without  opposition  on  October 
21,  1900,  and,  rejecting  the  modest  title  of  Provi- 
sional President,  which  his  predecessors  had  used, 
proclaimed  himself  "Jefe  Supremo"  or  "Supreme 
Military  Leader."  He  filled  all  important  posts  with 
men  from  the  mountains,  on  whose  loyalty  he  could 
rely,  and  as  they  were  able  to  secure  plenty  of  graft, 
not  one  penny  of  which  was  overlooked,  he  very  soon 
had  a  tight  hold  on  the  country.  One  of  his  first  acts 

[403] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

was  to  release  Gen.  Hernandez.  He  soon  found  that 
the  old  warrior  was  too  patriotic  and  too  dangerous 
to  be  at  large,  so  he  slapped  him  back  into  San  Carlos, 
on  the  pretence  that  he  was  planning  an  insurrection, 
and  kept  him  there  for  years.  On  March  30,  1901, 
Castro  was  elected  by  Congress  to  fill  out  the  unex- 
pired  part  of  Andrade's  term  and  in  the  following 
February  he  was  elected  Constitutional  President. 
Then  began  in  earnest  his  reign  of  robbery,  through 
the  establishment  of  monopolies  whose  profits  went 
to  his  private  purse,  and  his  vicious  anti-foreign 
policy  which,  through  the  murders  and  injustices  that 
were  committed  in  its  name,  made  the  Boxer  uprising 
in  China  look  like  a  soft-spoken  protest. 

I  was  not  in  Caracas  to  witness  the  advent  of 
Castro,  as  I  had  returned  to  Catalina  more  than  two 
years  before,  immediately  after  Crespo's  funeral. 
During  my  stay  at  the  capital  I  had  come  into  pos- 
session of  a  block  of  stock  in  the  Orinoco  Company 
which  made  it  better  worth  my  while  to  stay  with  it, 
and  I  had  become  infected  with  the  idea  that  if  we 
were  let  alone  the  concession  could  be  developed  into 
a  very  valuable  property.  It  was  soon  apparent,  how- 
ever, that  we  were  not  to  remain  undisturbed.  So 
long  as  Crespo  was  alive  I  was  all-powerful  at  Cata- 
lina, but  with  his  death  my  influence  began  to  wane 

[404] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

and  the  rights  of  the  company  to  be  trespassed  upon. 
The  natives  could  not  see  how  our  concession,  an 
integral  part  of  Venezuela,  could  ever  be  anything 
but  their  own  property ;  they  could  not,  or  would  not, 
understand  that  the  government  had  given  away  ter- 
ritory from  which  they  could  be  debarred.  It  was 
only  the  influence  of  the  Jefe  Civile  that  had  kept 
them  in  bounds  before  and  with  the  death  of  my 
friend  Crespo,  that  official  suddenly  became  at  least 
lukewarm  in  his  loyalty  to  the  law  and  to  me.  It  nat- 
urally followed  that  the  natives  overran  the  conces- 
sion and  did  more  and  more  as  they  pleased.  They 
refused  to  pay  royalty  on  the  balata  gum,  which 
they  carried  off  in  enormous  quantities,  and  stole 
everything  except  the  headquarters  building  and  the 
iron  ore,  which  was  too  heavy  and  not  worth  while. 
The  Jefe  Civile  himself  violated  the  terms  of  our 
concession  and  extortions  of  all  sorts  were  winked 
at  or  openly  approved.  As  Andrade's  unpopularity 
increased  my  troubles  grew,  for  the  natives  took  sides 
and  began  to  spy  on  each  other,  with  the  result  that 
false  and  malicious  reports  were  sent  to  Caracas  as 
to  the  company's  attitude. 

When  the  threatened  revolution  became  a  fact  and 
Castro  took  the  field,  Andrade  assumed  a  much  more 
friendly  air,  but  it  was  too  late  to  be  of  any  value. 

[405] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

He  sent  General  Marina  up  the  Orinoco  to  try  to 
arouse  enthusiasm  for  his  cause  in  the  east,  which 
section  furnishes  the  only  soldiers  that  can  cope  with 
the  hardy  mountaineers  of  the  west.  Marina  came 
to  Catalina  and  asked  me  to  do  my  best  to  hold  my 
district  in  line  for  Andrade,  and  gave  me  his  word 
that  if  I  did  so  the  President  would  grant  me  any- 
thing I  asked  for  as  soon  as  the  revolt  was  suppressed. 
At  just  about  the  moment  this  request  was  made 
Andrade  was  fleeing  from  La  Guaira  and  Castro  was 
assuming  full  control  at  Caracas. 

Almost  the  first  thing  he  did  was  to  annul  our  con- 
cession, on  the  ground  that  its  terms  had  not  been 
complied  with,  along  with  a  dozen  others,  as  the  be- 
ginning of  his  war  on  all  foreigners.  I  denied  his 
right  to  cancel  our  grant,  especially  as  it  contained 
a  clause  which  stipulated  that  any  disagreement  be- 
tween the  government  and  the  concessionaire  should 
be  referred  to  the  Alta  Carte  Federale,  or  Supreme 
Court,  for  adjustment.  As  the  case  had  not  been 
brought  before  that  court  I  held  there  could  be  no 
legal  annulment,  even  if  that  power  did  rest  in  the 
executive,  which  I  denied.  This  contention  was  sub- 
sequently upheld  by  the  International  Court  of  Arbi- 
tration, following  the  blockade  and  bombardment  of 

[406] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

the  allied  powers,  which  decided  that  our  concession 
was  still  in  full  force. 

When  Castro  saw  that  we  did  not  propose  to  sub- 
mit to  his  arbitrary  annulment  he  undertook  to  drive 
me  out  of  the  country.  He  realized  that  so  long  as  I 
remained  on  the  concession  we  could  claim  to  be  in 
full  possession  of  it,  and  he  proceeded  to  harass  me 
in  every  conceivable  way  in  the  hope  of  making  it  too 
hot  for  me.  Under  our  contract  we  were  to  nominate 
and  pay  all  of  the  officers  within  our  territory  and 
the  government  was  to  appoint  them.  My  old  chief 
of  police,  Abreu,  was  arrested  and  taken  away  on 
some  false  charge,  and  a  new  man,  Tinoco,  in  whose 
selection  I  had  no  voice,  was  sent  to  take  his  place. 
He  was,  I  learned,  a  spy  and  had  orders  to  send  in 
reports  which  would  make  it  appear  that  the  com- 
pany was  stirring  up  revolts  and  otherwise  violating 
the  terms  of  its  concession.  This  I  discovered  in  time 
to  induce  Tinoco,  with  the  aid  of  a  pistol,  to  sign  a 
statement  in  which  he  denied  all  of  his  dishonest  re- 
ports and  gave  the  company  a  clean  bill  of  health. 
He  died  soon  afterward. 

Castro  created  a  military  district  known  as  the 
Territorio  Delta- Amacuro,  which  took  in  all  of  our 
property,  and  made  Catalina  the  capital,  so  that  the 
Governor  and  the  other  officials  could  keep  me  un  /Lr 

[407] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

their  eyes.  They  all  had  instructions  to  make  the 
place  so  uncomfortable  for  me  that  I  would  leave. 
Fortunately,  when  it  received  its  concession  the  com- 
pany had  bought  the  land  on  which  its  buildings  were 
erected.  Only  the  fact  that  I  was  an  American  citizen 
and  held  the  deeds  to  the  property  restrained  them 
from  expelling  me  by  main  force.  However,  I  could 
see  trouble  coming,  so  I  dug  rifle  pits  under  the 
porches  on  the  two  sides  of  the  house  from  which  we 
could  be  attacked.  I  had  plenty  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion and  about  twenty  men  of  whose  bravery  and 
loyalty  I  was  sure. 

I  was  prohibited  from  buying  anything  at  the 
pu/pen'a,  or  commissary,  and  we  were  hard  put  to 
it  at  times  for  enough  to  eat.  We  caught  fish  in  the 
river  and  my  men  stole  out  into  the  woods  to  hunt 
at  every  favorable  opportunity,  but  the  moment  they 
left  our  property  they  exposed  themselves  to  arrest 
on  some  trumped-up  charge.  Sometimes  we  were 
able  to  surreptitiously  buy  supplies  from  the  natives, 
and  we  managed  to  get  along.  I  filed  protests  at 
Caracas,  with  the  Governor  and  with  my  company, 
but  they  accomplished  nothing.  I  was  told  by  the 
officials  of  the  company  that  they  were  doing  the  best 
they  could,  with  representations  to  the  State  Depart- 
ment at  Washington,  and  that  I  would  have  to  do 

[408] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

the  best  I  could,  and  I  did  it.  The  troops  were  con- 
tinually spying  on  us  and  annoying  us  with  fictitious 
charges,  but  it  was  a  year  or  more  before  the  govern- 
ment, angered  by  its  failure  to  get  rid  of  me,  resorted 
to  extreme  measures.  A  new  Governor  was  sent 
down  with  strict  orders  to  remove  me,  by  force  if 
necessary.  He  advanced  toward  the  house  with  about 
seventy-five  soldiers.  I  ordered  my  men  into  the  rifle 
pits  and  met  the  General  at  the  gate. 

"  What  do  you  want  ?  "  I  demanded  fiercely. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  replied  the  commander,  with 
all  the  treacherous  suavity  of  his  race,  "but  I  have 
orders  to  take  you  under  my  care  and  escort  you  to 
Trinidad  in  order  that  no  injury  may  come  to  you. 
Our  country  is  troubled  and  the  government  is 
anxious  as  to  your  safety." 

"  My  compliments  to  President  Castro,"  I  told  him, 
"  and  assure  him  that  I  feel  perfectly  secure  here,  and 
quite  comfortable.  You  can  also  tell  him  that  I  pro- 
pose to  stay  here." 

"  That  is  much  to  be  regretted,"  responded  the  still 
overly  polite  general,  "for  in  that  case  I  have  to  in- 
form you  that  my  orders  are  to  arrest  you  and  take 
you  to  Trinidad." 

"In  that  case,"  I  said,  imitatively,  "I  have  to  in- 
[409] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

form  you  that  you  will  find  it  impossible  to  carry  out 
your  orders,  and  I  advise  you  not  to  attempt  it." 

"  You  mean  that  you  will  resist  arrest  ? "  he  ex- 
claimed in  surprise. 

"Most  assuredly,"  I  replied.  "This  is  my  prop- 
erty. You  have  no  right  to  invade  it,  for  I  have 
violated  no  law  of  Venezuela.  If  you  enter  on  it  I 
will  fire  on  you." 

"But,"  he  almost  shouted,  as  he  waved  his  arms 
excitedly  toward  his  enervated  patriots,  "  my  men  are 
here  to  enforce  my  orders.  You  would  be  insane  to 
resist.  You  do  not  know  the  Venezuelan  Army,  sir." 

"You  are  mistaken,"  I  told  him.  "I  do  know  the 
Venezuelan  Army.  It  is  you  who  is  ignorant.  You 
do  not  know  my  army.  It  is  because  I  know  both 
that  I  have  no  fear.  You  have  not  a  shadow  of  right 
for  seeking  to  arrest  me  and  your  blood  will  be  on 
your  own  head  if  you  advance." 

With  this  declaration  which,  in  keeping  with  the 
comic  opera  custom  of  the  country,  was  delivered 
with  all  of  the  dramatic  effect  I  could  throw  into  it, 
in  order  that  it  might  carry  greater  weight,  I  retired 
to  the  house. 

The  General  could  see  my  rifle  pits,  but  he  did  not 
know  how  many  men  they  held  nor  how  well  those 
men  could  shoot.  After  a  short  consultation  with  his 

[410] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

staff  he  gave  the  order  to  advance,  while  he  bravely 
directed  operations  from  the  rear.  As  his  men  crossed 
the  line  we  fired,  and  eight  of  them  fell.  They  con- 
tinued to  advance  and  we  fired  again,  dropping  nine 
more  of  them,  while  several  others  were  hit.  That 
was  too  much  for  them  and  they  broke  and  ran,  leav- 
ing seven  dead  and  ten  badly  wounded.  They  did 
not  fire  a  shot,  perhaps  because  our  men  were  so  well 
concealed  that  Venezuelan  marksmanship  would  have 
accomplished  nothing  against  them.  The  General 
and  his  staff  returned  in  an  hour  and  asked  permis- 
sion to  remove  the  fallen  warriors.  After  burying 
their  dead  they  returned  to  their  steamer  and  went 
on  up  the  river.  In  three  or  four  days  they  came 
back,  with  their  force  slightly  increased,  and  the  Gen- 
eral again  called  on  me  to  surrender,  under  penalty 
of  being  arrested  as  a  disturbing  factor.  I  gave  him 
the  same  reply  as  before  and  after  thinking  it  over 
for  a  while  he  marched  his  troops  away  again. 

That  little  encounter  produced  pronounced  respect 
for  the  Americans  among  Castro's  soldiers  and  they 
did  not  give  us  much  trouble  afterward,  though  they 
continued  to  annoy  us  for  a  time.  With  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  blockade  of  Venezuelan  ports  by  the 
allies  —  England,  Germany,  and  Italy  —  in  the  latter 
part  of  1902,  and  the  signing  of  the  peace  protocols 

[411] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

at  Washington  early  in  the  following  year,  there 
came  a  cessation  of  hostilities  against  us.  So  far  as 
driving  us  off  the  concession  was  concerned,  Castro 
seemed  to  have  given  up  the  fight,  but  on  account  of 
the  disturbed  condition  of  the  country  and  the  fact 
that  the  government  was  known  to  be  inimical  to  us, 
it  was  impossible  to  do  anything  of  consequence 
toward  the  development  of  the  property.  This  en- 
forced idleness  eventually  became  intolerable  and 
early  in  1906,  the  company  in  the  meantime  having 
sent  one  of  its  officers  to  Caracas  to  protect  its  in- 
terests, I  returned  to  New  York,  after  having  held 
the  fort  for  ten  years.  I  came  back  much  poorer  in 
pocket,  but  with  a  fund  of  information  regarding 
Venezuela  and  its  people. 

I  have  been  in  every  country  in  South  America  and 
have  studied  all  of  them  and  there  is  no  possibility 
of  doubt  that  Venezuela  is  beyond  comparison  the 
richest  in  its  natural  resources.  With  the  setting  up 
of  a  firm  and  civilized  government,  which  must  come 
in  the  end,  under  an  American  protectorate  if  by  no 
other  means,  all  of  the  fairy  stories  that  were  told 
of  it  centuries  ago  will  come  true,  and  its  develop- 
ment will  eclipse  all  of  the  dreams  that  have  been 
realized  in  our  own  country.  It  is  a  strange  fact  that 
Cumana  in  Venezuela  (their  respective  names  then 

[412] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

being  New  Toledo  and  New  Grenada),  which  was  the 
first  European  settlement  in  South  America  of  which 
there  is  authentic  record,  was  founded  one  hundred 
years,  less  one,  before  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Ply- 
mouth Rock.  In  each  case  there  was  a  fervent  prayer 
for  divine  aid  in  establishing  a  Christian  colony  and 
building  up  a  great  country.  Why  one  prayer  was 
answered  and  the  other  was  not  is  a  matter  I  will  not 
attempt  to  explain. 

Like  her  West  Indian  neighbors,  of  which  beautiful 
isles  Americans  now  know  so  little,  but  of  which  they 
will  know  much  more  when  their  flag  flies  over  all  of 
them,  as  it  must  within  the  life  of  the  present  gener- 
ation, Venezuela  has  been  treated  most  bountifully 
by  nature  and  most  brutally  by  man.  Cursed  they 
all  may  have  been  by  the  seas  of  innocent  blood  in 
which  they  were  barbarously  bathed  during  their  ex- 
tended infancy  and  their  prolonged  childhood,  from 
which  they  have  not  yet  emerged.  It  seems  that  all 
the  powers  of  darkness  have  conspired  to  retard  their 
growth  and  hold  them  slaves  to  savagery.  Accus- 
tomed from  the  days  of  the  Spanish  conquistador 'es, 
and  the  pirates  who  followed  them,  to  being  plun- 
dered and  persecuted  in  every  way  that  the  mer- 
cenary mind  of  man  could  devise,  the  Venezuelanos 
have  grown  so  hardened  to  turmoil  and  torture  that  it 

[413] 


THE  WAR  MAKER 

has  become  second  nature  to  them  to  live  in  an  atmos- 
phere which  generates  riot  and  robbery.  Their  blood 
is  an  unholy  mixture  of  Indian,  Carib,  and  Spanish, 
with  other  and  more  recent  strains  of  all  sorts.  They 
are  the  most  inconsequential,  emotional,  ungrateful, 
and  treacherous  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  —  and 
yet  I  love  them.  The  ambition  of  their  leaders  runs 
only  to  graft,  while  the  underlings  yearn  for  war  as 
a  child  cries  for  a  plaything.  At  the  behest  of  some 
self-constituted  chieftain,  who  has  strutted  in  front 
of  a  mirror  until  he  imagines  himself  a  second  Simon 
Bolivar,  they  rise  in  rebellion,  because  it  gives  them 
a  chance  to  prey  on  the  country,  and,  if  their  revolt 
is  successful,  to  continue  and  extend  their  preying. 
But  some  day  a  real  man  will  rise  up  among  them  and 
lead  them  out  of  their  blackness  and  butchery  into 
peace  and  prosperity,  and  Venezuela,  with  her  wild 
wastes  of  wealth,  will  become  great  beyond  the 
imaginings  of  her  discoverers. 

This  is  not  the  full  story  of  my  life  but  it  tells  of 
some  of  the  incidents  which  I  have  enjoyed  the  most. 
My  best  fight  was  with  old  Moy  Sen,  the  pirate  king, 
in  the  China  Sea,  and  my  closest  call  was  when  I  was 
sentenced  to  be  shot  at  sunrise  in  Santo  Domingo. 
These  events  supplied  the  most  delightful  feasts  of 
the  excitement  which  my  nature  has  ever  craved,  yet 

[414] 


AT  WAR  WITH  CASTRO 

I  have  lived  well,  in  that  respect,  all  along.  I  have 
no  disappointments  and  no  regrets,  except  that  this 
existence  is  too  short.  If  I  had  my  life  to  live  over 
again  it  would  be  lived  in  the  same  way,  though,  I 
would  hope,  with  a  still  greater  share  of  excitement, 
because  it  was  for  just  such  a  life  that  I  was  created. 
What  the  purpose  of  it  was  I  neither  know  nor  care, 
nor  am  I  in  the  least  concerned  as  to  what  my  destiny 
next  holds  in  store  for  me.  I  hope,  however,  that  in 
some  land  with  opportunity  for  wide  activity,  I  will 
be  reincarnated  as  a  filibuster  and  a  buccaneer,  and 
that  I  will  so  continue  until  my  identity  is  merged  into 
a  composite  mass  of  kindred  souls. 


THE  END 


[415] 


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